DO you know one of the most powerful forces in the universe? I

s it money? Is it love? Is it prayer? It’s WORRY.

Anxiety is so strong – that it controls many of our lives.

We worry about money. We worry about our kids. We worry about our parents. We worry about our appearance.

Anxiety controls our decisions. Anxiety controls what we say. Anxiety controls our relationships.

If only we could get free from anxiety – life would be so much more fun and productive. But how can we get free if we’ve been worrying all our lives?

And if I’m not anxious about stuff, then surely something bad will happen?

The only way to be free from worry about our lives, our family, our work and our world is if we know that ‘it’s going to be alright in the end’.

But how can we know this. How can we have real hope that whatever happens, everything will be alright? Hope is what the Christmas story is all about.

Jesus was born into a country in the middle of foreign invasion and civil unrest.

Poverty was all around and his nation (Israel) was 60 years from being destroyed.

It is in this context that Jesus is born with the message that this will be “good news of great joy for all people” (that’s in the Bible). Where was the hope and joy? The problems still seemed to continue.

The hope comes from who Jesus is. He was born as the son of God. His promise was that if we sign up with him then it doesn’t mean that every problem is fixed, it means ‘everything will be alright in the end’.

Why not check him out this Christmas?

MATT FROST

Cirencester Baptist Church