Thursday, December 25, 2008

The best song to ever be written

There simply is NO song ever written that can possibly compare with the poetic and stirring lyrics to Oh Holy Night. At the close of this Christmas season, I wish to share with all of you my personal testimony of Christ through these lyrics.

O holy night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of our dear Saviour's birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
'Til He appear'd and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees! O, hear the angels' voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born;
O night divine, O night, O night Divine.
Led by the light of Faith serenely beaming,
With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.
So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming,
Here come the wise men from Orient land.
The King of Kings lay thus in lowly manger;
In all our trials born to be our friend.
He knows our need, to our weakness is no stranger,
Behold your King! Before Him lowly bend!
Behold your King, Behold your King.
Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother;
And in His name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
Let all within us praise His holy name.
Christ is the Lord! O praise His Name forever,
His power and glory evermore proclaim.
His power and glory evermore proclaim.
I would just like to point out a couple of things in here that completely fill my heart with emotion because the have special meaning to me. First of all, the first verse communicates in such a poetic way that when we are in the presence of Christ, whether physically or spiritually, we feel the true worth of our souls. Previous to that we might be sinful " in sin and error pining" because a lack of understanding of who we truly are is what causes us to sin. When we know who we are, when we know and understand and truly feel what we mean to the elder brother who gave His life for us, the desire and need and impulse to sin disappears.
Next, when we are weary, He fills our heart with joy- with HOPE. As I've gotten older I have begun to truly understand the power of that feeling- HOPE. It motivates, it inspires, it what keeps mankind alive and going and saves from emotional death. He is the source of ALL hope, and therefore, the source of ALL life worth living.
He is a KING. We will instantaneously feel that respect and reverence and awe and humble adoration that is intrinsically HIS. We will love Him with our entire heart and soul and being. We will understand what He has done for us. And we will absolutely FALL to our knees.
Juxtaposed to that idea- this KING, this being that we will immediately worship and ADORE...was born to be our friend. Plain, simple. His entire purpose was us. What an incredible indication of what our souls must be worth.
He knows us PERFECTLY and yet loves us perfectly. He knows our weakness because He felt them all in the atonement. He can truly succor us because HE truly, deeply understands all our emotions and pain. He has felt it all and can make us whole, and complete as a result. He really CAN make everything all better if we will let Him.
His law is Love. His gospel is peace. Of all the "powerful" things in this world, He uses love and peace to bring about His great purposes. He breaks all our chains- all things that hold us back, our addiction, our hate, our pride, our weakness, our pain, the things we suffer at the hand of others, EVERYTHING is broken by Him so we may rise to our eternal potential.
Let all that is within us- our WHOLE heart, all of our soul, our entire being PRAISE His Holy name.

Jesus Christ is my Savior, my Redeemer, my best friend. Everything I am, all that is good in my life is because of my very real and very personal relationship with Him. I am eternally grateful to my Father in Heaven for giving me the supernal gift of His son. I can think of no better way to sum up how I fell towards my Savior than to quote one of my favorite Christmas episodes where Jimmy Stewart ( one of the best actors EVER) is talking to Jesus Christ, " I love you. You're my finest, my closest friend and that means...that I can hold my head high wherever I go. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you"
Merry Christmas to all of you. May you find peace and harmony in the coming year. I love you all.