As a child, the night before Christmas, presented so much optimism.  My mother would encourage me to go to bed early.  Her reasoning being that the sooner I went to bed the sooner Christmas would be here.  I would just lay there, and my mind would be racing at a 1000 miles a minute!  To say that I was excited was an understatement.  I just knew that in the morning I was going to be overwhelmed with toys and gifts.  I was very blessed and fortunate to have a very nice Christmas.  

Now, as I look back, that feeling of hope, that feeling of believing that something better was coming was what kept me motivated.  The expectation of better is a wonderful feeling.  It sure beats thinking and knowing that ain’t nothing going to work for me.  When a person has reached the street of hopelessness, they are right around the corner of where depression lives.  

Jesus is called our Saviour for a reason.  Before He came the state of man was a very hopeless situation.  The devil had us tricked, swindled, and bamboozled.  When Adam disobeyed God in the garden of Eden that allowed the devil to enter into the human bloodline.  Now enters sin. Sickness, disease, and poverty.  

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men 

(Luke 2:14).

These are the words that the Angels of heaven were saying when Jesus was born.  They were ecstatic! Why were they so joyful?  HOPE had arrived!  The angels knew that one day man would have the opportunity to be redeemed from the grips of the devil.   Christmas can mean a lot of things.  To me, Christmas is a reminder that we have a hope in Jesus Christ.  Glory!

RELATED: THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT (Part 1)

Rev. Ron Moore Jr(athj.org) is the associate minister at First Corinthian Baptist Church.  You can reach him at revronmoore@gmail.com