I was thinking about the song Hark the Herald Angels Sing the third verse is as follows:

Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,
risen with healing in his wings.
Mild he lays his glory by,
born that we no more may die,
born to raise us from the earth,
born to give us second birth.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the new born King!”

I wondered where the phrase, “risen with healing in his wings” came from and after a little looking found it in Malachi 4:2 which says: “But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall.”  What a collection of images: the rising sun, wings that bring healing, calves leaping with the joy of newfound freedom: it’s all a picture of the world itself being healed by the Savior.

Any way, I came across the following thought on the Savior’s healing power written by John Newton. He’s talking about the grace of Christ to heal our sin and ends with an application that calls us to be humble but not discouraged and to look not so much at our weakness but at our Saviors grace and goodness.

“I hope what you find in yourself by daily experience, will humble you—but not discourage you. For if our Physician is almighty—our disease cannot be desperate. Our sins are many—but His mercies are more. Our sins are great—but His righteousness is greater. When our sins prevail, remember that we have an Advocate with the Father, who is able to pity, to pardon, and to save to the uttermost! It is better to be admiring the compassion and fullness of grace which is in our Savior—than to dwell and pore too much upon our own poverty and vileness.”
—John Newton, Letters of John Newton (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth: 2007)

Maybe one way to celebrate Christmas is to have the courage to be more Christ-centered: to look at Christ power to save and heal more than our own weaknesses and failures.  Read what Newton wrote again slowly and prayerfully: “I hope what you find in yourself by daily experience, will humble you—but not discourage you. For if our Physician is almighty—our disease cannot be desperate”.  Praise God, glory to the newborn King!