All flesh shall see the salvation of God.

Atheists do not believe that God exits, lest more that He is coming to us. I am willing to bet that if John the Baptist lived today and proclaimed his message, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths,” he would be met with, “What proof do you have that there is a God?” If those listening to John believed in God, he would probably be asked, “How do you know that He is coming?”

When we always need “proof” we do not truly have faith in God and His promises. That is why we so often hear the words, “prove it to me.” Faith means that we believe in what we cannot prove. Nature, the universe, and the world around us prove that God exists, yet if we do not have faith, we do not have the eyes to see and believe what is all around us.

Today, humans have made such fantastic scientific and technological advances, that we think that we can be the source of our own miracles and be able to create heaven on earth. However, technology cannot change the human heart. Sin, greed, lust, hatred, and violence, some of the things that separate heaven and earth, all have their roots precisely there, deep in the human heart, a heart full of self-centered pride.

As much as we pride ourselves in our human accomplishments, we cannot save ourselves. Who among us can add one second to the length of our lives? Who among us can bring someone who has died back to life? Who then, can save us? Only Jesus can. Jesus is the source of our hope. His Incarnation is the undeniable guarantee that God, the only One capable of saving us from our sins, wants to save us from our sins. He has not given up on us.

Our faith and hope in Jesus, allows us to make straight His paths. Our faith and hope in Jesus give us the courage to change our lives, to be ready to greet Christ, as we remember His coming at Christmas, and to be prepared to greet Him when He comes again, when we hope and have faith that “we shall see the salvation of God.”

– Bp. Roy Campbell