It was a slow morning. One filled with yawns and sleepy eyes. A morning that usually has kids bursting out of their beds, heading straight for an open room where families gather. A day that is filled with gifts and warmth. A day that only comes once a year.
December 25th.
It was to be the most joyous day of the year. However, for me, it was not going to be your typical traditional Christmas this year. The morning did not include a fancy tree on display. There was no neatly wrapped boxes with bows on top. No, Instead it was filled with simplicity and a family that God hand picked for me. On this day I was reminded of the real reason we celebrate Christmas. The birth of our Savior. Yet the sad reality is that most of us forget the Christ in Christmas. Instead, we get wrapped up in all the presents and forget what the real gift is. That salvation was delivered to us that day, in the form of a baby, but this was not any ordinary baby. This infant was the maker of heaven and earth. Both fully human and God. Our creator subjected himself to the darkness of this world, so that we would be brought out of sin and claim a new identity that would be in Him.
When I started to really think about this, the true meaning of Christmas, my head started to hurt. Because why would someone who was holy and perfect come down to this world? For me personally, I think I’d pass if I was in authority over all the world. However, God is not your ordinary king. Check out Hebrews 2:9 and you’ll know what I mean by he was no ordinary king.
“But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.”
Taste death for EVERYONE. Not just for your Aunt Lucy, your Uncle Billy or even sister Mary. For ALL of US, he decided to take on flesh! He would be tempted in the same ways that we are tempted, be mocked, beaten, and killed. All for us. Jesus was well aware of what He was getting Himself into. Yet, He did it humbly.
Verse 14 says, “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death–that is, the devil.”
I cannot stress this enough. Our creator! The everlasting Father of this universe, came down to be like US! To feel the pain we feel, to see the hurt we see, to TASTE the death that we deserved! A vulnerable baby laid in that manger that starry night and changed the course of life forever. He granted us a chance to be with him. When we should have been separated from Him, He brought us to Him. When we were in sin, He came perfect from Heaven to shed His blood. Freedom set out before us because God took on human flesh. I am simply forever grateful for that sweet baby and I think you should be too. He deserves not just one day of the year but all the days of our lives!
