As we approach and go through Christmas (and it’s right that we should give it time and truly celebrate), there is the very real danger that we get so used to the story, get so caught up in the tinsel and trimmings and become so familiar with the music and the message, that it passes us by as just another Christmas.
Yet without the full and glorious message of Christmas regarding the birth of Jesus we have no bigger message than anyone else. Why? Because we are simply left with a nice, heart-warming story for a dark time of year, that could have been anyone’s.
The fact is that this story is different from every other birth in almost every way. This was not just another conception, another birth, another human being coming into the world, this was a miraculous conception, this was God himself, real God as real baby, born of a real human mother – God enfleshed! He doesn’t become Divine, He already is Divine – “Before Abraham was, I AM” he would say later in his life.
We must be careful we don’t stop him being God and at the same time we must be careful we don’t stop him being real human man – the stuff we are made of. Scripture tells us “the Word became flesh,” that he took on our likeness, the “likeness of sinful flesh,” not the appearance of it. It tells us he had to be “made like us in every way.” He would be “tempted in every way as we are.” There was no immaculate conception that would keep him one big step away from us. He stepped into the brokenness of our world, your world, my world. It was the only way salvation could come.
He had to be man, he had to be God. God as, and with man residing, living, and ultimately dying. No ordinary mortal could have bridged the gap, could have wrought salvation.
May the fulness of the Christmas message impact you this season and draw forth adoration and worship of the Saviour.
The Word 4 Life 