Rev Prof Paul Frimpong-Manso
Christians have been urged to make the Yuletide complete and one steeped in honest reflection on the cause for which Jesus was born and for which he died.
This was contained in a Christmas message from the General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God, Rev. Prof. Paul Frimpong-Manso.
He said this reflection should cause us to examine our own lives and draw closer to the Saviour, adding that God did not give sparingly and selectively but did so lavishly and to all.
“God did not give objects and artifacts; he gave himself, restored us to a right relationship with him, and bade us to be reconciled with one another,” he stated.
Continuing, he said: “God also showed us what it means to sacrifice ourselves in love for one another. When we give ourselves sacrificially, enter into the trenches with one another, restore broken relationships and deepen the bonds of friendship and family; when we forgive one another, and give even to those who have wronged us, failed us, or disappointed us, then we are honouring what God showed us in Christmas.”
He asked Christians to allow the magnitude of what God has done for us through his Son Jesus to overshadow our best attempts at displaying our love for one another. Nothing, he said, could ever match the gift God has given us in His Son, which Paul echoes to the Corinthian Church.
Continuing, he asked Christians to make Xmas a Christ-centered one; a time for expressing our gratitude to God, and also for stocktaking.
“Let us bury our differences and prejudices and love our neighbours as ourselves. Let us purge ourselves of all social vices such as corruption, greed and selfishness. Let us live a new life of peace, love and harmony with one another,” he asserted.
To civil society groups, political parties and their followers, he said they should close their ranks, reconcile with one another and forge ahead as a united country. Let us all do our best to guard the peace from God that our country Ghana has been noted for within the sub-region.
By A.R. Gomda