A Christmas of Contrasts – Sunday, December 23, 1956
We cannot but be aware that this is a Christmas of contrasts. No doubt all Christmases have had their contrasts. And there is no doubt also that the same forces that have always opposed the plans and purposes of the Christ) the Prince of Peace, still oppose those plans and purposes. And the gospel that gives man his free agency, his right of choice, is sharply seen in contrast to oppression and coercion, and the enslaving of men’s minds. One would think that the world would have learned, for there never was a good way of life that was founded on fear or on force.
Both have been tried many times before—both fear and force—sometimes subtly, and sometimes with complete and brutal abandon. But they never succeed in subduing a people permanently or in establishing permanent peace for there is in man an inner awareness of his own eternal nature, an awareness That will always emerge no matter who seeks to enslave the minds or souls of men. And when all brutality and arrogance and evil have spent themselves, there will remain, always, the irrevocable reality of man’s eternal continuance, and of ultimate justice, and the triumph of truth.
There are many things that wouldn’t matter very much if man were just a machine. If he were just an educated muscle (with death being the end of all that he is), there is much that wouldn’t matter very much. But blessedly be is an immortal child of the God and Father who made us all in His own image, and who sent His Only Begotten Son, also in His own image, to redeem us from death, and to open up for all of us limitless eternal possibilities, of peace and progress and everlasting life with those we love.
It was this our Savior did. for us; this for which He was born; this for which He died; this that we would witness to the world. And so, despite sharp contrasts, let there be comfort and courage this Christmas.
Let it be a time for re-examining ourselves and for dedicating our lives to the values that endure; a time for calling our families together in grateful humility for all that is ours, and with prayers for the preservation of free principles and oppressed peoples; and a time for teaching our children of the divine reality of Him who said: “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace.”1
His peace and promises are unto all who repent and conform to the principles of Jesus the Christ, the Prince of Peace. May God bless us everyone.
1John 16:33.
December 23, 1956
Broadcast Number 1,427