What does Christmas mean to you today? As we think back to Bethlehem - the birthplace of Christ - we must notice some of the people who were involved in the Christmas story.

Too little attention, I think, is given to Joseph. He is called a “just man,” which means he totally obeyed the will of God. That term also carries with it the meaning of sympathy and kindness and indicates his devotion to God and to Mary. Joseph was engaged to be married to Mary. To be engaged in that time was legally about the same as being married. When Joseph found that his wife-to-be was with child, he could have called her ugly names. He could have exposed her “infi delity” to the public. But he didn’t, because an angel came to him in a dream and told him, “Do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matthewl :20-21). What faith it took on Joseph’s part to believe and to trust!

And then notice Mary herself. She was young, probably not more than 16 years of age. She was a young woman of tremendous faith. The announcement that she would bear a child was made by Gabriel, the herald of God: “Blessed are you among women.... You have found favor with God” (Luke 1:28,30).

What kind of favor did she find? What were the results? Many of us would be reluctant today to claim that favor. She would go on a long and wearing journey to a small town. The pains of childbirth would come upon her in a stable. Then there would be the long trip to Egypt, the return to Nazareth, long years of obscurity and perhaps poverty. And she would see her Son crucifi ed on a Roman cross. That was her calling; that was the favor of God upon Mary.

Some of you who are suffering, could it be a favor from God? Maybe this Christmas you are suffering the foss of a loved one, the end of a courtship that broke your heart, fi nancial reverses. It may be something that has happened at school. Whatever it is, it may be the favor of God in your life, because God is sovereign, and nothing happens to a believer by accident.

When disappointments and heartbreaks come, that could be the favor of God - a steppingstone to a greater involvement with Christ and a great surrender to Him. God’s favor for a person or a nation may be bestowed not by affluence but in challenge, when faith is put to a costly test.

By Billy Graham and