Introduction
This has been a year where many people have had to forfeit their holidays.
Had they gone on their intended holiday, there is no doubt some of them would have used a travel guide.
The Magi in the Christmas story needed a travel guide and so God provided a star. When we look at the star in the Christmas story let’s look at it a little differently this year, as a symbol of the fact that God has always provided travel guides to those who seriously seek Him. Throughout history, God has ensured that those who seek Him will find Him.
For each of us who have come to know Jesus, has someone who in cooperation with the Holy Spirit led us to Christ. It may have been your a mum or a dad. It may have been someone at work, a neighbour, a close friend, a teacher or a pastor. But all of us who are students of Jesus, can retrace our spiritual journeys and say without that person we might not have found Christ.
God sent someone who was light was bright. He sent someone whose love was real. He sent someone whose faith was so compelling that we found ourselves trusting that earthbound travel guide to lead us to Christ. What would some of our lives be like? Who would we be? What would we be doing had it not been for an earthbound star that God used as a travel guide in our lives?
Christmas is an appropriate time to thank God for the gift of travel guides.
Maybe you’re someone who is seeking Jesus rather than someone who has found Him. The reality is that a number of people are still wandering in spiritual circles and not really making much progress.
Conclusion
Students of Jesus like believe in the gospel ‘Good news’ about Jesus. Because He knows what’s on the other side of death because He’s been there.
Jesus knows how to get through death because He’s done it.
The Good News of the Bible is that Jesus has done everything necessary to give us perfect life in God’s kingdom. We don’t need to earn it for ourselves.
We don’t need to be good enough. We don’t need to go to church a certain number of times. We don’t even need to keep a lot of religious rules.
We just need to believe in the Good news, to trust that Jesus the Christ has done it all for us.
That when He died, He died in our place, taking the punishment from God that we deserve. That when He rose, He rose to give and secure us life in His kingdom
Be encouraged, God has probably already put a travel guide in your life somewhere. Scan the horizons of your relationships you probably already know someone whose spiritual light burns bright, whose love is real, whose faith has caught your attention more than once. Sort of like a Christmas star, God’s travel guide. Friends get on the road to finding Christ in Christmas.
If you are searching for God, here are some thing you can do:
Read a gospel – Shortest one is mark
Pray
Go to a website christianityexplored.org or www.lookingforgod.com
Join a course Christianity explored or Alpha
Look at the historical evidence.