DECEMBER 18 THE PERFECTIONS OF CHRISTMAS By Kathy Collard Miller Christian Author and Speaker
For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. (Hebrews 10:14)
I grew up in a poor family, and my mother saved in a specific bank account all year long so we could have gifts under the Christmas tree. More than any other time in the year, except maybe my birthday, I felt loved. My mom’s efforts to save money for gifts for three children seemed to indicate love and security. I didn’t realize as I grew up that my mom’s efforts actually contributed to an unhealthy perspective about God—that He required my efforts so He could love me. I had a mental image of a scale of justice which kept track of my good deeds on one side and my bad deeds on the other. I hoped there would be more good deeds than bad on my scale when I died so I could be approved by God to enter heaven. On October 1, 1967, when I was eighteen years old, I heard for the first time that I could never earn my way into heaven—God had provided through His efforts, His work. On that beautiful morning at a little church in Norwalk, California, a pastor explained to me that entrance into heaven came not from piling good deeds on a particular side of my spiritual scale, but from depending upon Jesus’ perfect sacrifice for my sins on the cross of Calvary. Such beautiful news! I prayed to receive Jesus as my Savior and Lord. Two months later, on my first Christmas after becoming saved, I enjoyed celebrating Jesus’ birth with a new heart and a new understanding. Jesus didn’t come to earth to examine my life and require perfection, but He was born as the only human being who would perform perfectly. Only then would He be the perfect substitute for the sins of the world. I again recognized I could never achieve total purity. Rather, God saw me as perfect because I depended upon Jesus’ death and resurrection for my spiritual standing before a holy God (Hebrews 10:14). I’m grateful for my mother’s faithful efforts to provide gifts for us as children. But I’m more grateful that my spiritual gifts and my standing as God’s child doesn’t require me to become perfect. Jesus’ perfect life from the moment of His birth guarantees He is the perfect substitute for me.
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