Christmas: A time of loss and suffering
By Steve Cornell
Senior pastor, Millersville Bible Church

Most parents would admit that nothing could bring greater sadness to them than the suffering or death of one of their children. What parent would choose for his or her child suffering and death? Can you imagine making such a choice when you had the ability to do so otherwise? How could a father watch his son suffer and die while he had the power to stop it? It sounds like heartless cruelty. Yet this is the way God chose to accomplish our salvation. This is how he rescued us from the judgment our sin deserves. "For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ" (II Corinthians 5:21). Christmas brought loss and suffering to God.

When we suffer great loss, we cannot turn to God and say, "You don't know how much it hurts!" At one point, as God's son was suffering on the cross, he cried to his father to deliver him from his agony. Jesus felt so totally abandoned by his father that he asked, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46). God the father turned his back on his suffering son - whom he loved before the world began (John 17:24). But he did this so that he could forgive and receive us as new sons and daughters. "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!" (I John 3:1). God knows how it feels to suffer. More than that, the one who became our savior suffered for us and is able to help us when we suffer (see: Hebrews 2:18).

Jesus was born to be the savior of the world. And when God gave his son to be the savior, it was the greatest demonstration of his love. What made this love so amazing is the fact that it was directed toward us-- a rebellious creation who did not deserve it. The apostle summarized it this way: "But God demonstrated his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).

If you are suffering and feel there is no one who understands, I invite you to turn to the God who knows what it feels like to suffer. He invites you to come to Him, through his Son, and receive his love and comfort. To all who received Jesus, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God" (John 1:12). This is the true meaning of Christmas.

Steve Cornell Senior pastor Millersville Bible Church Lancaster PA. 17551
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