“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:11

The following story, of how one man saved the world, started with a baby.

God is called many names. He is Abba, meaning Father. He is Yahweh, meaning LORD. He is Jehovah-Rohi, meaning the LORD my Shepherd. He is I AM. God is called many names, but this season we celebrate specifically that He is Emmanuel, meaning God with us.

God came to this earth as a baby, lived as a man, and saved the world. The broken, weary world experienced hope in their hopelessness when the Messiah was born. Not only do we celebrate Jesus’ birth in this season, but how loved we are that it matters so personally to us even now.

Let’s not forget the entirety of The Gospel this Christmas. It is so easy to entangle ourselves in the lies of consumerism, expectations, and tradition. It is so easy for us to so simply remember that Jesus was born in a manger, because there was no room in the inn. It is easy for us to stop there.

What isn’t easy is to remember how hopeless we would be without Him. What isn’t easy is to consider the tenderness of a baby boy, but the vast amount of love He must have already had for the world the moment He was brought into it. What isn’t easy is to acknowledge that God could have saved each individual however He wanted, but that He chose to walk this broken earth to better empathize with our humanness. It isn’t easy because we want to make this whole holiday season all about ourselves and the comfortable feeling that gives us, when it isn’t about us at all.

It isn’t easy, but it’s good. It’s beautiful, but it’s tragic. The stars shone bright and the son of He who named them was quietly born into a broken world to save it with His death and resurrection. “A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices.” We sing the words, but do we feel the weight? We hear of His importance, but do we run closer to listen better?

Let Christmas remind you, but do not forget again, the following story.

Jesus was born fully flesh and fully God into this world. He lived a sinless life, but experienced firsthand how the world is broken by sin as well as how persecution weighs. God’s only son, He was sent into the brokenness to die as the perfect sacrifice. His blood washes every sin white as snow, His death buried my shame, and His love covers all hate. In His resurrection, freedom stands victorious. He has given every individual the choice of Himself. He created for us the option to accept the grace that the cross defined, choose Jesus, and walk with Him in eternal life.

I say all of this to remind us of The Gospel of Jesus, but also as a response to my awe that this is what Christmas is. The day Jesus was born, this story was about incomprehensible hope instilled in a little baby. Today, it is a hope already received, understood, and celebrated.

This story started off with a quiet day of birth and a short story we all know. This story started off with peace, hope, and stillness. This story, of how one man saved the world, started with a baby.