A lot of people are relieved to see the season end. Most bars are open on Christmas Day because a lot of people are lonely and hope to find temporary anesthesia for their pain. Many people are stranded in airports and just want to get home. Christmas is not a celebration for some in our culture, and they are glad to end the hubbub of the holiday that only hurts their souls. Who needs to meet Jesus before next Christmas?

Sharing our faith with people who blame Jesus for causing them pain is difficult. He is the reason they don’t mix well with their family. He is the reason they are left out of some conversations. Jesus can be the reason their self-esteem is lower and their bitterness is increased.

For those of us who know the love of Jesus, trying to comprehend why others would feel differently is hard. People will usually have a difficult time knowing they are loved by the Lord, unless they are first loved by his children.

People were created with a great need to know God. That need is a good place to begin your prayers for those you know who need Jesus. The philosopher Blaise Pascal wrote a book in 1669 titled Pensées. Pascal explained the empty place in our souls that only God can fill. 

He wrote, “What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace? This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words, by God himself.”

The God-shaped vacuum in everyone’s life is the best place to take the words of Christ, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.” He spoke those words to Mary and Martha, who were grieving the fact that Jesus had allowed their brother Lazurus to die. Jesus told them what every human being needs to know. He has the power to save.

Wisdom is understanding that the gift of Jesus is our treasure. Wisdom is knowing that Jesus is the only One able to fill the empty space in people’s hearts, souls, and lives.