St. Paul is talking about living in this world as Christians. That’s something we ought to think about a lot. How should a Christian live? Should my faith make a difference in my life? Should I act like my sins are forgiven, or should I just do whatever I want whenever I want, not giving a second thought to anything? Should I live like I will live again, or live as if this life is all there is?

Hopefully the answer is clear already. We should live like we’re going to heaven. We should not live like we’re going to hell. That means this: we should live the way God wants us to live. We know what He desires because we know The Ten Commandments. At school it’s this: do your homework, and do it well. Listen to your teachers and obey them. Don’t fight with your classmates but help them. At home it’s the same. Obey your parents. Get along with your siblings and don’t fight with them. Do all this not because you have to, but because you want to.

Why do you want to? Not because you’re trying to get anything from God. You don’t deserve anything from Him. You know how easy it is for you to not do any of the things I just said. It’s easy to not do your homework or listen to your parents or teachers. It’s easy to fight your classmates and siblings. We get punished and disciplined for these things, and God should punish us for them too.

But God punished His Son Jesus instead. Jesus was punished for all our sins on His Cross, yes, all the things we do wrong here at school and at home. Now He forgives us for them. Trust this. It’s true. He won’t change His mind. Your sins are forgiven. They are taken away.

So how should you live? Like your sins are taken away. That means you desire to please Jesus. You want to keep His commands because He loves you and showed you His great love when He died for you. That’s why He was born for you, because He loves you. “We love because He first loved us. Let us love one another.” For love is His Christmas gift to us.