O Holy Night

O Holy Night is my favorite Christmas carol. Sara and I listened to it as we got ready to go to bed last night. I reveled in my favorite lyric from it: “Long lay the world in sin and error pining, till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.”

Ever since Eden’s Fall, the hardest belief for many to sustain, especially in times of struggle and failure is that they are worthy of God’s love and affection. So often we are overwhelmed by failure and feel so alone in our struggles that it seems sometimes as if no one cares, and too often God most of all. But that’s the illusion that pushes our world into the darkness.

Till he appeared, and the soul felt its worth.

God is not ever inactive toward us—unrecognized perhaps, but never uninvolved and he is always working to beckon us out of the darkness and into the joy of his light. What Sara and I want those three precious children in the picture above to know more than anything else is that they are beloved children of a gracious Father. They are worthy of his love, no matter what struggle they go through, whatever mistake they make, and in spite of every whisper of darkness into their ears.

It’s what we want everyone to know. He appeared in our world because we were worthy of love and to prove it he would spend his own life to rescue us from all that darkness twists or destroys in us. He came to redeem us because we were worth it to him.

You!  You are worth everything to him. What I love about the lyric above is that we come to know that worth when he appears. That’s when it all makes sense, and that’s not just about his coming 2000 years ago, but how he wants to make himself known to you today. When you behold him then your soul knows its worth. We are deeply loved and deeply cherished simply for who we are.

If you need a reminder of that, steal away for some alone-time over the next couple of days. Find a quiet place and ask him to reveal himself to you. Wait in the quiet until his reality begins to bubble up in your soul. We used to sing an old chorus, “There is none like you. No one else can touch my heart like you do. I could search for all eternity long and find, there is none like you.” It is such a rich chorus to sing to God.

But if you could for just a moment, imagine God singing those words to you. Read (or sing) them again and this time put those words onto God’s lips toward you. That’s just as true. And when you come to know that, your soul too will feel its worth. Then every night can be a holy night!

With love to all of you and hopes that in this Christmas season and throughout the year ahead, you will know how precious you are to him,

Wayne & Sara

8 thoughts on “O Holy Night”

  1. I love this. So well said, “live worthy of your calling.” Is not something we should strive to accomplish but rather we need to start with we are “worthy” of it. Jesus did not purchase something unworthy. It’s not a prideful thing to know your worth to him. It’s the beginning to living loved.

  2. Such an encouraging Truth. Thanks you so much Wayne for the way in which you encourage us & uplift God’s Word to our souls. ‘He restores our souls’ is a phrase from Psalm 23 which has taken on greater depth of meaning, Truth & reality in recent times. May you & your Family enjoy a wonderful & Joyful Christmas & a Blessed & Happy New Year!.
    I hope that one day you will visit us in England again! I enjoyed so much meeting you when you visited the UK a few years ago! God bless you! Here’s a precious promise from the Lord for us all in this coming New Year of 2020:- ‘Do not be afraid, for I am with you; Do not be dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you; Yes indeed, I will help you; Yes indeed I will uphold you with the right hand of My Righteousness. Isaiah 41:10. Love & prayers from Sheila in UK.

  3. Thank you, Wayne. I share your favorite Christmas carol. I am very appreciative for the part you (and Brad) have played in my life to move me from the life of a Pharisee into a growing understanding of Papa’s love for me. My prayer for everyone is always “may they come to know how much Papa loves them.” It is my continual prayer for myself–a growing realization of how much I am loved. I forget…a lot.

  4. Hi Wayne, just a heads up that Jenny Rowbory needs to raise £34,000 in 15 days to save her life. I know that she’d be grateful for any shares of her fundraising link with social networks: http://gf.me/u/w9ck5r

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