During the rainy season in the plateau region of Togo, West Africa, the mountains come alive with verdant, lush, fertile foliage.
Crops bloom and produce abundant fruit that offers a promise of prosperity at harvest time. Toward the end of November, the harmattan season sweeps in with winds carrying arid dust from the Sahara and leaving the land dead, dry, and barren. As years pass, the coolness of the harmattan evenings arouses a nostalgic reminiscence, bringing Christmas to mind.
It is that time of year again. The land looks lifeless, yet it is time to celebrate the giver of life itself.
Historically, the Togolese have not made much of the Christmas holiday. No trees are decorated. No lights are hung. No presents are given. Instead, the Togolese celebrate New Year’s Day. To the Togolese, the new year offers a new life of opportunity as they say goodbye to the old year and celebrate the new hope of the year to come.
As we teach new Togolese Christians the value of celebrating Jesus’ birth, we remind them of the eternal living hope he brings. Rather than celebrating an ambiguous hope for a thriving new year of life, we hold a sure and living hope of eternal life through salvation from sin.
Our team in Togo recently studied, memorized, and meditated on Ephesians 2:1-10, which perfectly encapsulates the spiritual paradox of believers. Our spiritual state of sin leaves us as dry and desolate as the land during harmattan: “And you were dead in trespasses and sin” (Ephesians 2:1). Our spiritual state in Jesus leaves us as flourishing and fruitful as the rainy season: “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:4-5).
Our loving Lord did not leave us dead in our sin. He offers life through Jesus—not merely a new year of life to celebrate on New Year’s Day, but a new life that we will celebrate with him for eternity. He offers this abundant gift of life to all who trust Jesus as their eternal, living hope. The life he offers is indeed worth celebrating.
So during Christmas this year in our homes, let us not be caught in the abstract celebration of an ambiguous hope that lasts only for a few weeks. Instead, like the new Togolese Christians, let’s celebrate our new life and the eternal hope we have in Christ through his birth, death, and resurrection. Through Christ we find our greatest reason to celebrate—the forgiveness of sin and the redemption of our souls.
Prayer Requests:
- Tuesday: Pray for new laborers to be sent into the harvest field through the Global Gospel Fund.
- Wednesday: Pray for the ongoing medical ministry of Hôpital Baptiste Biblique in southern Togo.
- Thursday: Pray for missionaries serving in the El Roï university ministry in central Togo as they labor among unreached Muslim students.
- Friday: Pray for the ongoing medical ministry of Hospital of Hope in northern Togo.
- Saturday: Pray for missionaries and national partners throughout Togo who are training church planters and pastors at the Togo Bible Institute and other theological courses.
- Sunday: Pray for missionaries and teachers serving at the Baptist Academy of Theology in Ghana.
- Monday: Pray for missionaries serving in literacy ministry in the Gambia.
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on December 13, 2022, as part of ABWE’s 2022 Advent Devotional Series “Give Joy to the World: An Advent Devotional from the Mission Field” and has been updated for relevance.
