EXCLUDING
JESUS

Topics: Burdens; Christmas; Dependence on God; Jesus Christ; Problems; Self-reliance; Unbelief

References: Jeremiah 17:5–8; Matthew 11:28–30; Hebrews 4:15–16; 1 John 5:5

It was nearing Christmas, and I received a phone call from a man who needed to talk to a counselor. I met him at my church office, where he told me his tale of woe. A decade earlier he had killed his wife in a fit of anger, was convicted of manslaughter, and spent several years in prison. He and his wife had a daughter who was in the custody of his in-laws. He had not seen her since the crime.

Now, as Christmas neared, his heart ached. Tears streaming down his face, he lamented, “I could pass her on the streets of this city and not even know who she was.”

What I remember most about our counseling session, however, was what he said when he first walked into my office. Dramatically raising his arms, he said, “Now, preacher, let’s just leave Jesus out of this, OK?”

As he sadly went his way that day, I thought to myself, That’s the whole problem. You’ve left Jesus out of everything.

—Phil LeMaster, Grayson, Kentucky