As This Christmas Comes – Sunday, December 24, 1950
As this Christmas comes, we are all acutely aware of the worries of the world. We have our problems, our personal and public disappointments, our serious uncertainties. We see our sons going far from home. We hear news we wish we didn’t have to hear. And it would not be realistic to record that the spirit of the Prince of Peace prevails among men, But it comes closer at Christmas than at any other time. And when we see a sample of what the world could be like if men sincerely loved the Lord their God, and their neighbors as themselves, we wonder what can be the cause of so much that is so wrong. But for our comfort and courage we are reminded that the world has seen dark days before, and it has seen the sun rise after the darkness has descended. It has seen a pursued and enslaved people walk through the waters of the Red Sea. It has seen manna fall from Heaven. It has seen a shepherd come forth from the flocks of Israel slay the oppressor of his people. It has seen men come forth untouched from the den of beasts and from the fiery furnace. It has seen the words of the prophets prevail to the confounding of the godless and the cynical. It has seen peoples saved from the deadly odds of implacable opponents. It has seen the widows and the fatherless fed. It has seen the elements tempered for repentant and hard-pressed peoples. It has seen the shipwrecked sustained and death stayed and prayers answered, even unto our own day. It has seen the wind cease and the waves obey the voice of the Prince of Peace. It has seen boastful men laid low, and the meek come into His kingdom. And there is no power or purpose of. God anciently in evidence that is not possible or present or proffered to us today. Let there be comfort and courage at this Christmastide. Let it be a time for re-examining ourselves and for rededicating our lives to the values that endure; a time for calling our families together in grateful humility, and with prayers for the preservation of free principles and for the protection of those who are far from us. Let it be a time for teaching our children of the mission and message of Him who said that of such is the Kingdom of Heaven, and whose peace and promises are unto all who repent and conform to the principles of the Prince of Peace. May God bless us every one.
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December 24, 1950
Broadcast Number 1,114