God's glory, not ours!

“Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” (Luke 2:14)
I am reminded by this verse of the real reason our Saviour came from His heavenly place to be among us. Unfortunately this is one of the most abused verses in the New Testament as many think on it as something God owes to man, no matter what their attitude or actions, but this is not so.
In Matthew 5:3 Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” God’s requirement is a repentant, humble heart and though God’s good will is freely given, it cannot be presumed upon. I do not find any comfort at all in the hype that is leashed on us each "Christmas" season, it only heightens the level of alarm I feel that the world is becoming deadened beyond the point of repair and that the true message has almost been supplanted entirely.
At the danger of becoming a self righteous prig myself, I turn to Jesus' words to say that we on this earth do not think that Christ's real reason for coming matters any more. I fully realise that if it were not for God's grace in not putting to my account what I truly deserve for my selfish ways I would have no authority at all to mention this verse. “For I did not come to call the [self] righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” (Matthew 9:13)
I truly hope that as you do the traditional annual celebrating and partying and getting of goodies, that you will be halted in your thoughts to contemplate that it is really about celebrating God who came in the form of Jesus for one purpose and one purpose only, to eventually pay the price of our rejection of Him, or to be more precise, of God's standards and we can never reach those. The good news is that although we no longer can we also no longer have to reach that standard, but we must simply accept that God's Son, Jesus has already paid the penalty for falling short and believe on Him, that's all.
I trust then that you will believe this and place your trust in Christ who through the giving of Himself freely has set you free from the penalty of sin, as He has for me.
If you do believe you will truly have God’s peace this Christmas, not just because of how Jesus loved us by this His selfless act but also because of how we love the Saviour, Jesus Christ Immanuel (God with us) for diong it.
I say these things, not because of any good in myself but on the contrary, it is because of my saviour who gave His life for me. May Christ be the one glorified this Christmas,
Trevor Burns