Tips for Life
by ALAN BAILEY
UFOs and aliens are back in the news, perhaps more than ever. People in high places are giving a good deal of credit to alleged sightings and reports of alien activity at nuclear and military establishments. Are we being visited by completely unknown creatures? Are they going to do us good or harm? Or is it all hocus-pocus?
There is one visit from another realm to this earth of which I have no doubt at all. It was announced by angelic beings to a group of ordinary men, shepherds. It was noted by wise men from the East and godly people who were expecting Him to come. The impact of the life of this visitor has changed history. That impact is still felt today.
Breaking through the gloom
At that time, and up to the present time, the majority of people in the world admit to not knowing who we earthlings are, why we are here, or where we are going. A great cloud of darkness and mystery has hung over the race throughout history. Yet there has been revelation, brilliant shining light, if only we would recognize it.
God spoke through prophets over many centuries. They told of a coming Savior who would show us what we needed to know and lift us from our helplessness and weakness.
Yes, the light shone on the scene of that first Christmas. It continued to shine as Jesus brought light to darkened lives, changing, transforming people. Sick were healed, sinners forgiven, the hopeless given hope, the sad given joy. There is no way that Jesus can be fitted into any merely human category. All attempts to do so fall foul of the facts. He stands alone in all the history of the race.
Did he succeed?
Twenty-first century people feel that the time of Jesus is a long way back and irrelevant. Whatever effect he had has not changed the world in any dramatic way. But the truth is that Jesus accomplished all He set out to do. Here are some reasons why He came.
● To seek and save lost people, cut off from God by sin
● To call sinners, that is, all mankind, to repentance.
● To give His life as a ransom price for our sins
● To bring abundant life to those who surrender to Him
● To destroy the works of the devil in enslaving us to sin He most certainly did all these and gave us assurance of them by rising from death.
Millions have enjoyed the blessings and benefits of knowing Christ personally and experiencing his reality. He has promised to come a second time. This will not be for the same reasons of course. It will be for judgment. That event may not be far away. It will happen just as surely as his first coming. This Christmas, think about his claims and how you are included. ■
References: Luke 19:10; Matthew 9:13; Matthew 20:28; John 10:10; 1 John 3:8.