For the broken-hearted at Christmas
Here's a reminder that Christmas is for those of us with broken hearts & empty seats at the table - it's one of John Piper's Solid Joys Advent posts - you can find out more about these posts and how to receive them at the bottom of the page here: Solid joys
Life and Death at Christmas
By John Piper
Life and Death at Christmas
By John Piper
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10)
As
I was about to begin this devotional, I received word that Marion Newstrum had
just died. Marion and her husband Elmer had been part of our church longer than
most of our members had been alive at the time. She was 87. They had been
married 64 years.
When
I spoke to Elmer and told him I wanted him to be strong in the Lord and not give
up on life, he said, “He has been a true friend.” I pray that all Christians
will be able to say at the end of life, “Christ has been a true friend.”
Each
Advent I mark the anniversary of my mother’s death. She was cut off in her 56th
year in a bus accident in Israel. It was December 16, 1974. Those events are
incredibly real to me even today. If I allow myself, I can easily come to tears
— for example, thinking that my sons never knew her. We buried her the day after
Christmas. What a precious Christmas it was!
Many
of you will feel your loss this Christmas more pointedly than before. Don’t
block it out. Let it come. Feel it. What is love for, if not to intensify our
affections — both in life and death? But oh, do not be bitter. It is tragically
self-destructive to be bitter.
Jesus
came at Christmas that we might have eternal life. “I came that they may have
life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). Elmer and Marion had discussed where
they would spend their final years. Elmer said, “Marion and I agreed that our
final home would be with the Lord.”
Do
you feel restless for home? I have family coming home for the holidays. It feels
good. I think the bottom-line reason for why it feels good is that they and I
are destined in the depths of our being for an ultimate Homecoming. All other
homecomings are foretastes. And foretastes are good.
Unless
they become substitutes. Oh, don’t let all the sweet things of this season
become substitutes of the final, great, all-satisfying Sweetness. Let every loss
and every delight send your hearts a-homing after heaven.
Christmas.
What is it but this: I came that they may have life? Marion Newstrum,
Ruth Piper, and you and I — that we might have Life, now and forever.
Make
your Now the richer and deeper this Christmas by drinking at the
fountain of Forever. It is so near.
<< Home