Tuesday, December 11, 2012

A surprising Christmas (part 1)

The Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost (Luke 19:10).

Do you want to know something surprising about Christmas?  I’ll tell you something surprising—God came to live in our world personally.

Why is this surprising?  Because God is holy and our world is anything but.  The LORD Almighty created earth to be a paradise, but our ancestors ruined things out of selfish desire.  As a result, the world is cursed—cursed with death and all the frustrating, miserable things that lead to death.  Disease and disability. Hatred and war. Chaos and decay. Discrimination and mistrust.  Severe weather and natural disasters.  All these problems were triggered by human sin.  The world is filled with darkness and pain because mankind tries to live without God.

Our rebellion against His authority angers God more than we can imagine.  Yet at the same time, the Maker of all things harbors a deep and committed love for the world and all who live in it.  So The LORD Almighty took steps to set things right—He sent His Son to live among us and fix the damage that we have caused.

We don’t appreciate how remarkable this act truly was.  God is holy—nothing sinful can survive in His glorious presence.  Moths that approach an open flame are quickly burned to death—in the same way, no sinner may approach God Almighty and survive the experience.  It is unthinkable that God would set foot on our sin-twisted world.  Yet that is exactly what He did in the person of Jesus Christ.

The Spirit of God made a young, unmarried woman pregnant—the child she bore was both Son of God and Son of Man.  Born with a human body, God’s holy Son could walk among us without destroying us.  In Christ, God became approachable—people who were tainted with evil could spend time with Him, learn from Him, and receive peace from Him.  The sick could find healing in His touch.  The children could find blessing in His arms. 

It is simply amazing that God would spend time in a world so corrupted by sin.  Yet His willingness to come here personally testifies to His great love for you and for me.  When you realize just how much God loves us, His arrival on earth is not surprising at all.

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