A friend recently shared that he had the opportunity to visit Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s house, and meet the retired pastor who now lives there, though their dialogue was limited since he spoke only a bit of English. That reminded me of crossing the Iron Curtain in the 80s for an illegal gathering of Hungarian pastors.

When J. I. Packer’s book Knowing God came out in 1973, I was a young Christian. God used it in my life profoundly, and it is still one of my top five books of all time. I appreciate these challenging words from Knowing God about what it means to truly have a God-honoring “Christmas Spirit.”