Christmas is gift of pure heart
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Editor,
It’s looking a lot like winter and Christmas in the Mission Valley right now, with snow, fog, inversion, everywhere slippery roads and sidewalks; plows on highways and country roads; the sounds of Christmas carols; Christmas cards signed, sealed and sent as lines get longer in busy post offices; children are heard practicing their parts for the Christmas pageant.
So what’s all this fuss about Christmas anyway? Why all this joyful celebration?
Christmas is the celebration of God coming to live on this planet to give us pure hearts. Matthew 1:23: “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us,’” — this was prophesied in Isaiah 7:14, hundreds of years before it happened.
After his adultery with his neighbor’s wife, Israel’s King David prayed to God, “Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me and I will be whiter than snow;” and “Create in me a clean heart, O God.” (Psalm 51:7, 10a NLT).
Jesus said, “For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying and slander. These are what defile you” (Matthew 15:19-20a NLT). He also said, “God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God.” (Matthew 5:8 NLT)
We saw and heard a true analogy of God’s gift to us on TV this week. An older man was dying because of a very unhealthy heart. There was no hope unless a donor was found quickly. Another family lost in death a very dear son with a perfectly healthy heart, which they gave and the transplant was accomplished. Weeks later the donor’s family and the man with his new heart met. With stethoscope pressed against the man’s chest, the grieving mother listened to her son’s beating heart. She was grateful that the man had received a very, very special heart.
Valley churches will be filled with many grateful hearts this Christmas season.
Harvey A. Town
Polson
