"The people of this generation … are like children sitting in the market-place and calling out to each other: 'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not cry.'"¹

On a December day back in 1903 at Kitty Hawk in North Carolina, Orville and Wilbur Wright, after numerous failures to fly a heavier-than-air machine made amazing history. They achieved something that no man had ever done before. Ecstatic, they sent a telegram to their sister Katherine: "We have actually flown 852 feet. Will be home for Christmas."

Overjoyed, Katherine ran down to the local newspaper and pushed the telegramâ€"the greatest news story of the new centuryâ€"into the hand of the editor. After reading it he smiled and said, "Well, well! How nice the boys will be home for Christmas."

I wonder how often we miss the point when God is doing a work among us. The religious people of Christ's day who were actually anticipating his coming as their Messiah failed totally to recognize himâ€"and ironically had him crucifiedâ€"because he didn't come and didn't operate in the way that they expected.

And how tragic is it that so many people today are also missing the whole point of Christmas? The point being that on the birth of Christmas Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, clothing himself in an external garment of human flesh, stepped out of the "ivory palaces of heaven" to identify himself with lost mankind and came to earth to die on a cruel Roman cross to pay the penalty for your sins and mine so that we could be freely forgiven by God for all our sins and receive God's gift of eternal life.

There is no greater tragedy in all of life than to miss out on God's gift of forgiveness and eternal life.

Whatever you do, don't miss out on the meaning and purpose of Christmas. Be sure to accept God's gift of forgiveness and eternal life today. For help read the article, "How to Be Sure You're a Real Christian" online at: www.actsweb.org/christian.

Suggested prayer: "Dear God, please help me understand the true meaning and purpose of Christmas and be sure that I have been forgiven and have received your gift of eternal life and thereby know that I know that I know that I am a true Christian and follower of Jesus Christ. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."

1. Jesus in Luke 7:32 (NIV).

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