The last person to get an ornament for the branch that was substituting for a Christmas tree was the teenage boy. Everyone was curious about the type of ornament that he would bring. He had been very quiet and seemed very sad.
After being gone for a long time, but teenage boy came back into the shack, and he was carrying a large chunk of dirt covered by a thick layer of ashes on the top! As he walked across the room, pieces of dirt fell onto the floor, and the little girl said, “You are making a huge mess!” Her mother immediately told her to be quiet and let the teenage boy explain his ornament.
The teenage boy set the chunk of dirt by the tree, and then looked at the floor between the door and the tree and saw the mess he had made. He apologized to the group for making a mess, and then said that recently he had made a mess of his life. He had done many things that were wrong, and he was ashamed of the way he had acted. He told them that he had asked Jesus into his heart when he was younger, but now God seemed very far away from him.
He then scraped the ashes off the top of the big chunk of dirt and showed them what was underneath the ashes. There were green plant stems starting to grow again! The teenage boy said that he knew that God had not given up on him, and that God wanted to renew his life and cause new growth. God was just waiting for the teenage boy to repent of his sins and turn back to God!
The older man came and sat by the teenage boy and opened his Bible to I John 1:9 where it says:
But if we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.
The teenage boy went outside so he could have some privacy and pray to God and get his life straightened out! Meanwhile, the older man told the rest of the group that the teenage boy’s chunk of dirt reminds him of the very first Christmas, when Jesus was born. At that time, the world seemed as hopeless as that chunk of dirt covered with ashes. God had promised a Savior that would come from the descendants of King David, but it had been many, many years since there had been a king from the family of David. It seemed hopeless, the people knew they were sinners, but God’s Savior had not come yet, and they had been waiting so long. But God had a plan! Just like new growth comes after a wildfire and brings new life out of the ashes, at just the right time God sent His Son Jesus, when everything seemed hopeless. In the Old Testament of the Bible there is a prophecy predicting that Jesus would come when everything seemed hopeless and cause new growth!
In the Bible in Isaiah 11:1 it says:
Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot – yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root.
Jesus’ mother and his earthly adopted father were descended from King David. Jesus is the Savior that God promised! He came at just the right time, was born as a baby, was both God and human, lived a perfect life (without sin of any kind), gave His life on the cross to pay for our sins, and rose from the dead three days later! All our sins have been paid for by Jesus! It is up to you to believe in Him, pray and ask Him to come in and take over your life and forgive your sins!
If you have never done this, why not today! It is the best Christmas present you will ever receive!