Come Ye Apart – Sunday-Christmas Day, 25 December 1988 – “In Him Was Life” Scripture Reading: John 1

Come Ye Apart – Sunday-Christmas Day, 25 December 1988 – “In Him Was Life”

Scripture Reading: John 1: The Life-Light

1-2 The Word was first,

the Word present to God,

    God present to the Word.

The Word was God,

    in readiness for God from day one.

3-5 Everything was created through him;

    nothing—not one thing!—

    came into being without him.

What came into existence was Life,

    and the Life was Light to live by.

The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness;

    the darkness couldn’t put it out.(The Message)

“In Him Was Life” by Jon Johnston

He told me his startling story last summer, behind closed doors in Beijing, China. During his youth he enthusiastically ministered for Jesus. But then the Communist Revolution occurred.

Missionaries fled. Churches were closed. Christians were captured., and he was among them. Saying “no” to those who commanded him to renounce his faith, he was sent to a Mongolian prison. There he endured cruelty that staggers the imagination.

My brother had no hope of seeing his faithful wife and family again in this life. Considering the harsh treatment he was receiving, he expected to die soon.

Then with a broad smile, he also told of the peace and protection that Jesus provided. Comforting scripture verses were indelibly etched into his mind. Fellow prisoners were drawn into salvation. Guards became eager to learn of his faith. The unbearable was made bearable; the impossible became possible. Thought suffering continued, he became victorious!

Hero? He assured me that he wasn’t one. Brave? Though a faithful pilgrim, he spoke of his many fears. Resentful to God? Not in the least His words were: “Compared to the cross, I suffered nothing.”

This Christmas many of us will feel a powerful temptation to feel depressed. To feel that nobody, not even Jesus, really cares. The blessed Christ child would have us take another look at our manifold blessings. We haven’t been put in a Mongolian prison camp for our faith. Most of our material needs are met. And our spiritual riches are beyond measure-all because of the first Christmas Day.

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Global Church of the Nazarene

Global Ministry Center

17001 Prairie Star Parkway

Lenexa, KS 66220 United States

Phone: (913)577-0500

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