“The Word became flesh and
blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the
one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, generous inside and out, true from
start to finish”
(John 1:14 MSG).
December tends
to be one of the busiest months of the year for most people. Businesses are
frantically working to have all their merchandise available for us last minute
Christmas shoppers. Elsewhere, people are picking out the perfect Christmas
trees and decorating their houses. Meanwhile, people virtually across the globe
will set aside their normal routines to go to Christmas parties, attend church
services, sing Christmas songs, watch Christmas TV specials, and travel long
distances to be with those whom you love.
I’ll admit, I
love this time of year. I love the holiday delights. I love the joyous spirit
which many people tend to have during these few weeks. And I love being able to
spend time with my family members.
However,
sometimes, the holidays are not quite so pleasant. Maybe you have gone through
a difficult year: you have lost a job or some of your physical abilities. Or
maybe you have lost a loved one. Or maybe the holidays have a way of reminding
you of individuals who have passed away. Or maybe you are not looking forward
to seeing certain individuals in your family that you will soon come in contact
with.
Yet regardless
of whether you are on a mountain top of joy or in the valley of despair, we all
need to have an understanding of the real reason for the season. Rick Warren
the author of the Purpose
Driven Life said,
“Right now there’s nothing more important for you to understand than the
implications of Christmas for your life” (The Purpose of Christmas, p. 7).
The real reason
for the season is Jesus, God with us. It is about celebrating the incarnation:
God coming to earth as a Man, in the form of a Baby lying in manger. One
theologian explained the significance of the incarnation in the following way.
“When Jesus came to this earth men saw in Him the splendor of God, and at the
heart of that splendor was love. When Jesus came to this earth, men saw the
wonder of God, and the wonder was love. They saw that God's glory and God's
love were one and the same thing. The glory of God is not that of a (dictator
type) eastern tyrant, but the splendor of love before which we fall not in
abject terror but lost in wonder, love and praise” (Barclay, Daily Study Bible).
The incarnation
is about God being always with us. It is about Jesus coming to earth, living
the perfect life, and dying for our sins, so that we might have an eternal
relationship with the One who will never leave us nor abandon us (Heb. 13:5).
He is always with us who have received Him as Lord of our lives.
He is with us
when our boss is a jerk. He is with us when our baby is crying and we are
having a hard time just to get out of bed. He is with us when we are having
marriage problems. He is with us when family members get sick, and die.
He is with even
when we are angry at Him for allowing certain things to happen. He is with us
when we are struggling to trust Him. He is with us when we just don’t know what
to do. He is with us as we are lying in the ICU and the doctors don't know what
to do. And even when we take our last breath, He is with us.
So no matter
how high or low in life we find ourselves, we as faithful followers of Jesus
Christ, are never alone. He is with us just as He declared, “Surely I am with
you always, even to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:20b NASB). That is the promise
which the birth of Christ, the incarnation, reminds us of. May we never forget
it; He is with us.
Because of His
love,
Matt
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