This is the season of joy and light, but this celebration did not just come out of nowhere.
Nowadays, so much of the world loses sight of what Christmas truly is about. Our gifts are a symbol of the gift of Christ coming to Earth and paying the price for our sins. We celebrate Christmas to praise The Lord.
Yes, Santa and presents are fun, but they are not why we have this holiday. This entire celebration on December 25th is to remember what Jesus did for us.
By humbling Himself and coming as a babe in a manger, He showed up in our lives as God in the flesh. It blows my mind to think that the God of all the universe decided to come down and be born to a woman who had to take care of Him.
My favorite part of this image is that when we picture God, we don't typically imagine a baby who is in great need of help from other people, yet He loved us enough to come down as a child.
That precious night when Jesus was born gave the world hope. Hope of a new start and a clean slate. Hope of forgiveness and love.
Imagine being there. Step back about 2,000 years into the city of Bethlehem where the virgin mother, Mary, sat in a stable with her new child. The Lord is wrapped in cloth in a lowly manger, and this was the beginning of the greatest love story ever told. The best part is that it involves you and me.
The Bible doesn't just stop there and say that all was happy and the end. No, Jesus goes further by not only coming down but becoming an intimate part of our lives. On the Earth, He healed people, fed people, loved people, and He showed them that He cared for them. He humbled Himself to the point that He would even touch the sick. He was even tempted, but He never gave in.
The glory of God doesn't stop with the manger, for it continues throughout His life and into eternity. Jesus lived a perfect life on Earth, which is something no one else could do, and He loved us enough to die the most painful death for us. He took on our sin and our shame so that we didn't have to carry this burden so heavily on our shoulders.
It is in our human nature to sin, and we cannot deny that fact, but we can be freed from the punishment.
Christmas is about the Gospel.
Jesus came down to be the giver of life and our everything. This season, let us not forget what it truly is all about. It's about life given to us freely at a tremendous cost.
It's a cost we could never repay, and it is critical for us to receive life, or else all we are would be fleeting. This is a time to worship the Giver of Life, Jesus
