ABC News reported that this year 122 million Americans will travel between December 20th and New Year’s Day. [1] The holiday season magnifies our yearning to get somewhere—preferably a place that provides a sense of belonging, shared history, and celebration. Get out and drive in any city in America this week, and you’ll see a convoy of cars loaded down with luggage, wrapped gifts, antsy kids, and sleep-deprived parents headed to Grandma’s house. The less traditional among us hop flights to vacation spots like Cancun or Aspen. No matter the destination—and even if you’re staying home—Christmas puts our hearts on the go. Why? Because at the deepest level, Christmas stirs in us a longing for a place we haven’t been yet.
As believers on this side of the cross, we are inhabiting a place in time that spans between the “already but not yet.” What that means is, if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, your salvation is already secured. The fact that you’ll spend eternity with God has already been decided. But the world as we know it now, is a far stretch from heaven. Spend a few minutes watching the news or scrolling through your phone and you’ll have plenty of evidence that confirms the world isn’t the way it’s supposed to be. In that sense, even though you’re a believer, you’ve not yet come to possess all that Christ has in store for you. In other words, this isn’t heaven . And this state of the already but not yet creates a longing in us.
Thankfully, we get tiny glimpses of what’s coming, and those glimpses build anticipation. This Christmas, you might experience a palpable sense of peace while you sit at your family dinner table. Or maybe you’ll feel it on a ski slope in Aspen or a beach in Cancun. Perhaps you’ll feel a jolt of joy as you watch a child open a gift on Christmas morning. Don’t be surprised if an unexplainable sense of peace shows up if you sit alone in an empty apartment, or in the hospital room of a loved one (Psalm 34:18). Peace might arrive as you serve a bowl of soup at a homeless shelter. Or maybe it will come when you hear a choir sing “O Holy Night.” These types of moments are foreshadowing— glimpses of what’s right and good—but they seldom last as long as we’d like. And that’s why it’s not uncommon to feel a little (or a lot) empty during the Christmas season.
The good news is that God didn’t leave us alone to navigate the tension between the “already but not yet.” The Christ-child we are celebrating is called Immanuel, meaning “God with us” (Matthew 1:23).
Jesus is the God of the here and now. He is the God of this life and the next. Jesus fills the empty spaces in our hearts and the back alleys of our souls. Jesus is the Home we’ve always wanted, and whether we realize it or not, He is the destination we are trying to get to. And we don’t have to wait until we get to heaven to experience His presence. The psalmist wrote, “Be a rock of refuge for me, where I can always go” (Psalm 71:3 CSB, emphasis mine). Isn’t that what we are all looking for? A place where we can always go? Notice that the psalmist didn’t say, “where I will someday go.” He said, “where I can always go.” That means in this lifetime and in your current set of circumstances. It means that no matter where you are or what you are doing—you have a Place to go this Christmas. And that Place is very good.
“But to those who did receive him, he gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born, not of natural descent, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12).
Merry Christmas, my friends.
[1] https://abcnews.go.com/US/holiday-travel-forecast-fly-drive-christmas-new-years/story?id=128277999.
One Response
This was absolutely beautiful Susie. Your dad is so proud of you up there where he waits for us to join him. I hope you and John, and the two pups, had a wonderful Christmas and the best New Year ever! We all got together at Julie’s and had a nice day.