The Final Christmas

It happened to me while I was singing “Joy to the World.”  It was the last verse that gave me pause: “He rules the world with truth and grace, and makes the nations prove the glories of his righteousness.”  I teared up singing that because it just isn’t true.  The nations don’t prove God’s glory or righteousness.  Rather, they prove the way sin has ravaged the world.  Today, children will die.  People will starve to death while we throw away close-dated food.  People will die of preventable and curable diseases.  The nations are governed by tyrants who are more concerned with maintaining their own power than serving their people.  Corruption, not righteousness, characterizes the nations.  The world that I live in does not at all prove the glories of God’s righteousness.

I must conclude that I am singing about a day that has yet to happen.  I am left to believe that the greatest Christmas is yet to come.  The first Christmas has changed me.  The final Christmas will change the world forever.  The first Christmas gave me new life.  The final Christmas will make everything new.  Come, Lord Jesus!