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Preparing for a Family Christmas
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Matthew 5:43-45 You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies. Pray for those who treat you badly. If you do this, you will be children who are truly like your Father in heaven. He lets the sun rise for all people, whether they are good or bad. He sends rain to those who do right and to those who do wrong.
Listen to the radio broadcast of Preparing for a Family Christmas
Download audio fileBecause we’re heading into Christmas next week, we’re chatting this week about getting ready for that celebration. Specifically, about thinking ahead, planning ahead, for those difficult people who may be joining you.
It’s sad but true that, in most cultures, family violence spikes at Christmas – a terrible statistic when you think about it. But all too often as Christmas celebrations bring families together, old conflicts come back to haunt them, fuelled all too often by alcohol.
And yet, you don’t have to have a punch up for Christmas Day for it to be an unpleasant affair. Oh, no. Most families have wounds, alienations, old and well-worn paths toward conflict that plague them. And how easy is it, in those days leading up to Christmas, to mull on those, to talk about those difficult people who’ll be sitting around your table at Christmas, hmm? If that rings a bell, then here’s a godly piece of advice to help you prepare: spend time praying for those people instead of talking about them. Or, as Jesus put it:
Matthew 5:43-45 You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies. Pray for those who treat you badly. If you do this, you will be children who are truly like your Father in heaven. He lets the sun rise for all people, whether they are good or bad. He sends rain to those who do right and to those who do wrong.
Take that teaching, live it out over this coming week and a half, and who knows how Jesus might show up around your dinner table this Christmas.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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