By REV. JAMES SCARBOROUGH

Donalsonville Assembly of God

After I put my glasses on the other day, I soon noticed that something did not feel right about them. Eventually I realized that one of the nose pads had somehow fallen off. I suspect that the mysterious disappearance of that part of my glasses was connected to a 16-month-old little girl who seems to get a strange thrill from yanking Papa’s glasses off his face faster than his hands can stop her!

Someone suggested that I might be able to find parts to repair my eyeglasses instead of replacing them, so I investigated and found her advice to be accurate. Since I had never attempted to replace nose pads on glasses, I had no idea what the procedure involved. When I looked into it, I found that there was a tiny set screw that had to be removed to place the new pad on. The realization of what I had to do was the easy part; working with those nearly microscopic parts was quite another.

The main hindrance was the reason I needed the glasses in the first place — if I could see how to get that little screw in and out successfully, I would have no need to wear glasses. Nevertheless, with determination to get the job done, I started gathering up the essential tools: a really small screwdriver, an old pair of glasses, two magnifying glasses (one of which had a light), and a flashlight. Adding to the intensity of the challenge I was dealing with, I had clipped my fingernails earlier in the day, so I had little to cling to those little screws with.

Even with all my paraphernalia, replacing the nose pads was not without struggle. But eventually it all paid off and the job was successfully completed. Now my $5 pair of reading glasses is as good as new — almost. Thinking back, though, my decision to buy new parts to put on an old pair of inexpensive glasses probably was not such a good idea.

As we continue our journey toward Christmas — enjoying many festivities and revisiting old memories associated with the season along the way — we need to reflect upon the state of spiritual brokenness that humankind was in that resulted in God extending His love to us through the birth, life, death and resurrection of Christ. Just as my used pair of eyeglasses was unworthy of repair, neither was humankind worthy of God’s gift of eternal life through Christ, yet because of His love — and not our worthiness — Christ came so we can have new and abundant life as we place our faith in Him.

Centuries before His birth in Bethlehem, the Old Testament prophet Isaiah foretold of the Messiah that was to come: “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned” (Isaiah 9:2, New International Version). In the New Testament, Matthew 4:14 states that those words were fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Because of God’s love for us, Christ came and brought the light of eternal life to mankind. We were unworthy and undeserving, but He was willing to make a great sacrifice so we can have new life through faith in Him.

Let’s not forget that great truth as we celebrate Christmas this year.