Healing Rays of Righteousness

GOD’S GIFT OF CHRISTMAS LOVE

I love singing the many joyful, glorious hymns of Christmas. And “Joy to the world” is one of my favorite carols. It is also one of the most sung hymns during the Christmas season. Why? Possibly because its message and melody echo the angelic joy that Jesus’ birth brought into the world.

Isaac Watts put the angel’s message in poetry and George Frederick Handel set those words to music: 

Joy to the world! the Lord is come; Let earth receive her King.

Let every heart prepare Him room, And heav’n and nature sing.

He rules the world with truth and grace, And makes the nations prove,

The glories of His righteousness, And wonders of His love.

Yet today we live in difficult times of joyless darkness and despair, and many are longing to see the transforming presence of God in our world, church, and families. Many others feel threatened by the evils of wars, violence, and injustices. And many more feel powerless against corrupted authorities and selfish leadership, politically touting their lies and conspiracies theories.

And sadly, many of us are deeply troubled by witnessing the Christian church being deceived and swayed by political lies and religious conspiracies, causing disputes, divisions, and a blatant disregard for God and neighbors. And many are quietly and publicly crying out for God to come down and rescue us from this devilish darkness. Nevertheless, the angels song continues to ring out the good news. “The Lord is come; Let earth receive her King.  …He rules the world with truth and grace.”

I love the story of the grandpa who found his grandson jumping up and down in his playpen, crying at the top of his voice. When Johnny saw Grandpa, he reached out his chubby little hands and said, “Out, Grandpa, out.”

Filled with love, Grandpa reached down to lift his grandson out of his predicament, but as he did, Johnny’s mom came into the room and said, “No, Johnny, you are being punished; you have to stay in your playpen.”

With undeterred love Grandpa’s heart and mind searched for a way to satisfy the child’s cry. His grandson’s tears reached deep into his heart. But mom’s firmness could not be taken lightly. It was then that love found a way. Grandpa could not take his grandson out of the playpen, so instead, he climbed into the playpen with the little boy.

That story vividly illustrates the grand love message of the Christmas story. From His eternal glorious heavens God looked down upon us and heard our crying for help and hope. And because God so greatly loved us, He left the glories of heaven and came down to earth, climbing into our world with us. Taking on human flesh, becoming fully one with us, God in Jesus, was born into our world to live in our midst. Oh, the wonders of his love!

The eternal significance of this love gift was so amazing that God rolled back the heavens to make space for the angelic choir to burst forth in song announcing the birth of Jesus, our Savior, Messiah, and Lord with singing “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” (Luke 2:14).

And in unwrapping God’s glorious gift of love, we discover God’s other gifts of joy, peace, and hope. The world-wide Christian church of Jesus followers still trembles in awe and wonder at the miracle of that glorious birth. God came down and, through the infant Jesus says to each one of us, “I dearly love you!”  

May God’s gift of Christmas love be daily enjoyed in your life and mine!

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Ray M. Geigley – “Healing Rays of Righteousness” – www.geigler13.wordpress.com – 12/24/25

ADVENT — EMMANUEL

“All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:

‘The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’

(which means “God with us”). (Mt. 1:23)

Beyond the lights and decorations there is a TRUTH that looms large during Christmas. And beyond the carols and festivities there is a FACT at the heart of our joy and delight. I pray that we all will first experience and then let it be known that the preeminent glorious TRUTH and FACT that we Christians celebrate during Advent/Christmas is the advent of the promised coming of “Immanuel” (God with us) into our world.

With so much focus on the birth of an adorable baby laying in a stable manger, we become blinded to the deeper, more glorious FACT that this baby child is God himself entering our darkened, hopeless world, clothed in human flesh. God chose to lay aside his glory, majesty, and power, to come down from heaven and experience for himself all the feelings and trauma of human birth, life, and death.  

But why would God go to this extreme emptying of himself to come into our fear-filled world of darkness and experience human life from birth to death? The Scriptures tell us that it is because he loves the world so greatly and longs for it to be filled with his gifts of light, love, joy, and peace. Yes, we joyfully sing the Christmas carols, but do we ever pause to hear and ponder their messages? To do so promises us a much better understanding and a deeper appreciation for the TRUTH and FACT that the “Christmas carols” musically proclaim.

I remember as a young teenager walking home from the neighbor’s house after darkness had settled across the field, railroad tracks, small stream, and meadow that separated our two houses. I remember how much less fearful I became after I was able to see the porch light of our house, and how relieved I was to have the darkness of the night give way to the bright lights of home.

I often think of this experience as an excellent description of the TRUTH and FACT of Advent and Christmas. God enters the darkness of our world and wherever his presence is believed and accepted, the “I am the light of the world” replaces the darkness and fear with his light and peace.

On one dark night a mother said to her fearful child as she put her into bed, “There is nothing to fear in the dark. And besides, the angels are near you.” And the child whimpered, “But, mommy, I don’t want angels. I want a skin face to be with me.”

In the opening verses of his gospel, John declares that in Jesus, God came to fearful humans with a skin face. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. …. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. …. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. (Jn. 1:1-4, 14).

Christmas is God’s answer to the darkness of our failures and fears. And so, when you hear or sing the joyous music of Christmas, listen carefully to the messages of God’s love for you, and open your heart to feel his “Immanuel” presence with you. “Joy to the world, the Lord is come.”

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Ray M. Geigley – “Healing Rays of Righteousness” – www.geigler13.wordpress.com – 12/17/25

ADVENT CELEBRATES HOPE

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him,

so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

(Romans 15:13, NIV).

Advent celebrates God’s gift of HOPE being born into our world of dark hopelessness and giving us LIGHT. Advent also celebrates God’s coming into our world of deadly evil and giving us LIFE. “The Lord Almighty” is the God of hope. And a life without God is a life without hope!

Hope is a magnet that draws and empowers us forward to new ways of thinking and seeing. In times of despair and trouble, hope is vision of possibilities for our future and destiny. Hope is energy which gets out of bed in the morning and shapes our activities for the day. And hope is that which keeps love alive. When hope diminishes, love dies!

Advent is the yearly proclamation of this hope to all people living in darkness and despair. And Christmas is the joyous proclamation that this God of hope is in our world right now, at this very moment in time.

Hope is the reason for the season of Advent. And we, the people of hope are to be the messengers of this hope, proclaiming the good news that “To Us A Child of Hope Is Born.”

The prophet, Isaiah, dreamed of a day when God would come down and turn his people away from the darkness of evil and hopelessness. Isaiah waited with eager anticipation for God’s advent into the world to redeem, save, set free, and lift his people out of the pit of despair.

“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned. … For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.”  (Isa. 9:2, 6-7).

And with those words, hope is reignited. “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.” (Isa. 60:1,2).

The good news is that Isaiah’s “Immanuel” hope is now reality. The King of Glory has come. We celebrate his advent as glorious, hope-filled light into our dark and dangerous world. Truly, “The Word become flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14).

That is what Christmas celebrates! It is more than just a remembrance of an event that happened more than two thousand years ago. Christmas is the celebration that God, the glorious “I AM” is now in our world, establishing his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. Amen!

“Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her king;

let every heart prepare him room, and heav’n and nature sing.”

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Ray M. Geigley – “Healing Rays of Righteousness” – www.geigler13.wordpress.com – 12/04/25