Today,
the 12th day of Christmas, we here a different perspective of the Christmas narrative, not from the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, with angels and shepherds and mangers, but from
the Gospel of John. He speaks of Jesus as the Word of God, the Son of God, God himself, who came amongst us to save us. This Gospel gives us hope, at a very important time. At a time when we Christians in Malaysia need to hear of hope, just as the Gospel’s original audience, at a time when Christ followers were facing persecution as well.
The John text, along with
Ephesians 1:3-14 as the New Testament text, reminds us of who Jesus is (God) and who we are in Christ (co-heirs with Him). Being in the same family and receiving the same inheritance as children of God, we can have the confidence to live as Christ would want us to live. Along with the blessings come the responsibility to be Christ followers, and we have the assurance that we have been empowered to live this way.
How then shall we live? By the grace that God has given us by adopting us as His children, we can live our passions to the fullest, telling our own stories (blending in His story) to become witnesses (sharing our testimonies) of the light, as what John the Baptist was doing (
John 1).
Therefore, we can go and bless others, sharing our lives with others, undergirding all we do in the love of Christ, that we may change the little corner of our world, and who knows, with us all doing likewise, we may even change the world as a whole!