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Heaven’s inhabitants ­don’t simply rejoice over nameless multitudes coming to God. They rejoice over each and every person (Luke 15:4-7, 10). That’s a powerful affirmation of Heaven’s view of each person as an individual, whose life is observed and cared for.

Perhaps this Christmas season is a difficult one for you. Maybe it reminds you of loved ones who are no longer part of your life, due to death or strained relationships. Life can be hard in very real ways. While our problems may be many and varied, there is one main solution: Jesus.

The Thanksgiving holiday is behind us, but giving thanks should be our daily mindset, during the Christmas season and beyond. Here are some Scriptures that remind me of that. I hope God will speak to you through them.

I’ve heard people say they struggle with sitting down to read books. They lose focus or just don’t have the time. That’s one reason I highly recommend audiobooks!

A friend recently shared that he had the opportunity to visit Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s house, and meet the retired pastor who now lives there, though their dialogue was limited since he spoke only a bit of English. That reminded me of crossing the Iron Curtain in the 80s for an illegal gathering of Hungarian pastors.

When J. I. Packer’s book Knowing God came out in 1973, I was a young Christian. God used it in my life profoundly, and it is still one of my top five books of all time. I appreciate these challenging words from Knowing God about what it means to truly have a God-honoring “Christmas Spirit.”

Romans 8 says we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us and causes all things to work together for good. Will He, who did not withhold His only Son, withhold other things from us? No! The chapter ends with “Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.” That is the best news and true grounds for ultimate optimism.

The true biblical worldview is ultimately very optimistic. The glass isn’t half empty; it’s half full, with the promise that one day it will be completely full—in fact, overflowing for all eternity. Now that is very optimistic! But we’ve got to recognize that the glass which is currently half full is indeed half empty because of the fall, sin, and the curse.

If you also find yourself grieving this holiday season, I pray that God’s constant presence will comfort you. Whatever we face, we can always embrace gratitude for what Christ has done for us. That’s a choice we can consciously make, and one which I seek to do continuously.

A reader left this comment on my Facebook: “I have left instructions with my executor to have a copy of the small pocket-sized version of Heaven available to anyone who attends whatever type of memorial I have.”

Years ago, as a pastor, I hesitated before preaching on Christ’s second coming because I was weary of the prophecy obsession, which was less about Jesus than endless speculation. Yet a healthy emphasis on Christ’s return is vital for believers, since “our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior” (Philippians 3:20).

Everyone has a worldview, inconsistent and superficial though it might be. Non-Christians often raise concerns about evil and suffering as if they present a problem exclusively for the Christian worldview. But every worldview must attempt to account for them.

Scripture is emphatic on the point that God honors His children’s giving. That’s why I love this article from Desiring God’s David Mathis, reminding us that we just can’t outgive our generous God.

The human impulse to rush to judgment has always existed, but now it is common to believe whatever we hear and then post outrage using social media. But what if in our use of social media we applied the concepts of innocent until proven guilty, and from the mouth of Jesus, “Do to others as you would have them do to you”?