No cell phone bars! There we were on the road somewhere in Missouri, completely out of touch with everyone!
It doesn’t happen very often, does it? We expect to be able to reach out to almost anyone at any time via voice, text message, or e-mail. We count on these means to stay in touch with children, parents, and other loved ones wherever they may be.
Yet it is far from perfect and comes at a price. The average family reportedly spends more every month on cell phone equipment and service than on any other household expense. Most of us would likely say it’s still worth it. The alternative is to be cut off from others and be all alone.
Despite their limitations and cost, we appreciate our cell phones, for who wants to be alone and stranded when the tire blows out on a rural highway? Who wants to be alone when there is something to celebrate?
But there is something vastly better. The most intelligent smart phone and the most extensive 4g network in the world are nothing compared to the way God reached out to the world.
Sin had cut all mankind off from God and the blessings of life with Him. Isaiah pronounces a chilling indictment: “Your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear” (Isaiah 59:2). Why should God listen to me—a sinner whose selfishness, pride, and stubbornness merit His righteous anger?
We could no more reach out to God and repair our relationship with Him than I could fix my cell phone issues. But then God initiated a new conversation.
Christmas is all about the most amazing communication from the holy God to sinful mankind. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). God fulfilled His long-standing promise and spoke to the world in the person of His only begotten Son. Jesus came not to destroy the world with a blistering message of condemnation but to announce new hope and life. He delivered the news not by radio signals sent from heaven but by being born of a virgin, growing up as our Brother under the law, preaching repentance and forgiveness, and finally by paying the horrific debt of our sin by dying on the cross.
Because God came to us in Jesus, we have free access to the throne of God 24/7. Sin cannot interfere. It’s been taken out of the way. Not only does God speak to us in His Word, He invites us to carry on a running conversation with Him. On the commute to work as you mentally run down the day’s agenda, you can share the concerns, pressures, and deadlines with the Savior who leads you back to His Word and its unfailing promises of help.
When the frenzied activities of the season reach fever pitch, you can talk to the One who was born in the quiet of the Bethlehem night. He gives you the peace which passes all understanding. In caring for children or elderly parents, you are never alone. When the responsibilities and stress seem far greater than your ability to cope, don’t wait. Call on Him who walked this same Earth and knows firsthand what you face. His counsel and strength are as close as your Bible.
The One who came, died, rose again, and is returning has promised you: “…And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). What’s more, this totally reliable means of heavenly communication is always absolutely free, a gift of God’s boundless grace!
“Glory to God in the highest!”