MATTHEW 1:23 – “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).
THEME OF THE DAY. EVERY DAY TO BE CHRISTMAS. Well, Christmas has quickly faded over the horizon and out of our view. We are full steam ahead into the new year and decade. Yet, I think we should turn around and beckon Christmas to return. Oh, not in the commercialism and frenzied activity of the season that leaves us exhausted and somewhat disillusioned by the world’s version of Christmas. No, I am referring to us looking back and bringing the Reason for the Season front and center into our lives; likely daily, like all the time, like thinking long and hard on the implications of the incarnation of the Lord Jesus – Immanuel, God with us – for everyday living. Basically, the call is for us to make every day to be Christmas and the right version of Christmas.
Take a few minutes right now and ponder the truth of God becoming a Man; of Him entering our world and living among humanity. Not as a founder of religion, a good teacher who captivated the crowds, or the supreme example of how to live. Think upon Jesus leaving the glories of heaven and entering the misery of the world to identify with the misery of the world. If we do so regularly, the impact in our lives will be life-altering. And I am not referring to changes in our lives as a follower of Him, though that will happen. Nor am I wanting us to meditate upon the Lord Jesus as the living Godman to fuel our love for Him, though that will happen also. I also am not directing us to look upon the incarnation of Jesus as the means to greater consecration to Him and wider separation from the world, though those will happen too. Let’s look at Jesus as our comfort in difficult times when only He may soothe our deepest hurts.
In the Christian life, we, as fellow believers, have a lot in common – same Heavenly Father, same heavenly destination, same object of faith, same fights against the world, flesh, and devil, and cling to the same hope of the Lord Jesus’ return. There are many more commonalities, but the one I want us to look at today is the shared comfort we may find in Jesus becoming man. Every believer suffers. Every believer hurts. Every believer grieves. Every believer sorrows. And there is Someone else who has entered these shared experiences of all believers – the incarnate Christ. The message of Christmas is Jesus entering our world in perfect humanity as the One who says to us in times of deep pain, “My child, I know. I have been there. I have experienced what you are experiencing.” The Word of God reads, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). Who is this High Priest? The incarnate God – the Lord Jesus. And what did He do? He lived our experiences but without sin. He cried. He hurt. He grieved. And because He did, every one of us, none exempted, may cling to this promise of promises during trying times – Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too (2 Corinthians 1:3-5).
Friends, strive to make Christmas an everyday reality by learning to take all your cares, burdens, hurts, and pain to Him who is Christmas and came at Christmas to identify with us in all the trying experiences of life in this sin-cursed world.
PRAYER: “Father, help me to live every day with a conscious awareness of the nearness of Your Son.”
QUOTE: “Immanuel, God with us, is not a package to unwrap in December, but is to be a daily reality in our lives”