I love Christmas

I love Christmas. As a kid I loved the excitement, the anticipation, the presents and the family gathering. As a parent, I loved buying presents for my kids and seeing them open the presents with wide eyed wonder. The joy, the delight, the fun. As a pastor, I loved Christmas services with hundreds of visitors. I loved the high stakes energy, the planning, the preparing, the team working together to present the good news of Jesus in a fresh way to help people come to Jesus. I have always loved Christmas  Still do. 

But, amidst all the shopping and shuffling, buying and busyness, get togethers and gift exchanges, energy and excitement, Christmas sales and Christmas specials, it is easy to miss the significance of the season. It is easy to participate in all of the holiday festivities and miss the Holy intensity of the mystery of Christmas. It is easy to become so familiar with the story that we miss the power of the once in an eternity event. It is so easy to get caught up in the interest of the live nativity, the intrigue of the season, the interrogation of small children seeking gifts, that we end up missing the wonder of the moment of the incarnation. 

God came. God became human. God. The all powerful, all wise, all knowing, all present God of the universe became powerless, dependent, weak, limited and a baby human. 

God came to rescue us. God became our Savior. God came to feel our suffering. God became our healer. God came to suffer abuse. God became our tender warrior. God came to be tempted like we are. God became our overcomer. God came to feel our pain. God became our comforter. God came to die for us. God became our resurrection and life. 

God came for you. God came to love you. God came to show you love. God has skin in the game of rescuing you, redeeming you, releasing you, resurrecting you. God came for you because you needed it. And He wanted to. He came to show you favor. He came to convince you that He is for you - when you’re naughty or nice, when you’re at your worst or your best - He is for you; tenderly, lovingly, wholeheartedly for you. He wanted you to know He was for you so clearly, so unmistakably, so radically, that He came for you. He became a baby destined to become a man who suffered and died and rose again for you, so you would know God is with you, God is for you, God has skin in the game of your eternal reformation. I love Christmas.