Dear Christian friends:

The Lord is coming! He is almost here! Christmas will be on Thursday when the Baby Savior of Bethlehem should again come to our waiting open hearts to comfort, strengthen and rule us in holy ways. What a wonderful season for us Christians!

"The Lord is at hand." St. Paul says in our text. He is coming. Not only as our Baby Savior, but also He is coming as our Glorious Judge. On the first Christmas He came as our humble Savior to win forgiveness of sins for us. On the Last Day He will come as our judge-Savior. No matter how He comes, as Baby Savior He soon will appear and be here. And if we believe in Him we should be glad. These words: The Lord Is At Hand should make us Christians very happy. In our text Paul says, "Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice, The Lord is at Hand!"

Notice we are to be happy "in the Lord." Many are happy this Christmas for other reasons. Good food; receiving of presents; parties and vacations etc." make almost everyone happy during the Christmas Season! We Christians, too, join in all these happy events, and should. That's one way we can show the great joy of our heart and soul in the wonderful Savior Jesus. We Christians at Christmas ought to have gay times , glad celebrations, but they should begin at Church or by hearing again the Good News of the Savior Jesus.

If our celebrations and joys do not begin and end "in the Lord," in our heart, then they are hollow, empty and will quickly pass away after Christmas. If our joy is really "in the Lord", then we will be happy in our hearts even if we can't have big parties or extra fine eats. These are only ways of showing our joy; they do not make it. God makes the joy happen in our hearts because of the Savior Jesus.

You can't make true happiness by having a big party or by putting up gay decorations. Truly, if your heart is not happy first, but broken and sad, parties, presents and fine food will not help much; they may make it worse. We have better ways of showing our joy in the Lord. Paul says, "Everybody should know how gentle (kind) you can be."

Showing patience and kindness to the poor and the needy is a much better way of showing our joy in the Lord. Especially, at Christmas many agencies and institutions ask for our help for the sick, the children from broken homes, and the poor. If we are really happy in Jesus we will gladly and kindly give help and gifts to them.

Also we will be kind to those who are not nice to us or who are mean to us and sin against us. Christmas is the time we think of peace on earth. But if we want peace on earth, we must be kind and be ready to forgive those who sin against us. God forgives us in Jesus. If we believe that we will be very happy and ready to forgive those who sin against us. In this way we Christians should show our great joy in Jesus who is at hand (near).

Since our Savior is at hand (near) we also should not worry about anything, but in everything go to God, and pray to let Him know what we want.

We have many troubles and problems that can make us worry if we forget that our Savior is near to hear our prayer and save us. Our God is not dead. He is alive. Nor is He far away, but near.

He will hear your prayer and help you in every need. If you pray to God, you show that your God is alive and mighty and that He loves you and is glad to hear and answer your prayers. But if you do not pray to God, you act like your God is dead; that He can't hear you; that He is too small and weak and too stupid to know how to help you. You do not honor God, but insult Him if you fail to ask Him for help. But if you pray to Him, you will often see that He does love you and forgives you; that He does hear your prayers. He helps free you from problems or troubles, or He will help you to be patient and suffer the burden with joy and hope.

And when God does hear and answer our prayers, we should not forget to thank Him. By thanking God, we are making confession and saying, "God has helped me and blessed me."By saying thanks to Him we give credit where it belongs. He wants us to do this. He says, "Call to Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify Me." (Psalm 50:15)

If we remember that the "Lord Is At Hand" then His peace which is better than all our thinking will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus until we see Him in full glory.

Amen.