God is the answer to life's questions

A man was walking along and fell in a hole. He yelled for help.

The first man to look in was a doctor. “Hey Doc, can you help me?” The Doctor wrote out a prescription and threw it in the hole. The next guy to come by was an engineer and he drew up a set of blueprints on how to get out and threw them in the hole.

The third guy was a friend of his. “Hey Joe, can you get me out of this hole?” Joe looked into the hole and jumped in. The man looked at Joe and said, “What on earth did you do that for now your down in the hole?” Joe brushed himself off and said to his friend, “Yea, but I been in this hole before and I know the way out.”

And so God came, in Jesus. The Bible says His name is Emmanuel, which means “God with us.” Close to 20 centuries have come and gone, and today He is the central figure for much of the human race. All the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of humanity as powerfully as this baby born in a manger.

God broke into humanity so that we might know that in our struggles of life, Jesus has been there.

When we face poverty, Jesus has been there.

If we are homeless — He has been there.

When we are betrayed by friends — He has been there.

When we are misunderstood — Jesus has been there.

When we have to deal with tensions in our family — Jesus has been there

When we suffer through heartache, loneliness, pain, grief, failure — He has been there.

And He is here, with us, in all of life. Because of Christmas, Jesus is indeed Emmanuel — God with us.

Some of you this Christmas are experiencing the joy and wonder of the season in a fresh and precious way. Some of you this season are walking through some of the deepest valley’s of your life. There is no hole too deep, there is no place to dark that God can’t come along side of you and show you the way out. He really is Emmanuel, God with us! He really is the answer to all the questions of life, he really is the support that you need. He really is the answer to your family’s struggle. The gift of Christmas is the gift of abundant life!

If you have accepted His gift … cherish it this Christmas in a more wonderful way than you ever have. If you haven’t accepted His gift … maybe this is the year you ought to unwrap all that He has for you.

Chad Wilks is the senior pastor at Sandpoint Church of the Nazarene. He can be reached at chad@sandpointnaz.org.