Alright, admit it, you've given some terrible gifts. No doubt you've also received some questionable gifts. It's no surprise God is the ultimate gift-giver. He doesn't give out of expectation, desperation, selfishness, ignorance, laziness, or any of the other reasons why we give. For Christmas, however, God gave us something no one expected... it was the greatest gift He could give... Himself. The same God who formed the heavens and the earth and who knew you before you were born was now a little baby. It may seem odd, maybe even absurd, that God's rescue plan for a world in need was a baby. But God's answer to the world's problems has never been material things. Instead of giving us more stuff, He gave us Himself. God entered into the very situation He wants to heal. God showed up in our neighborhood so we would know who the eternal God is and what He's really like. God now had a face and a voice and walked among us. The miracle of Christmas is this... God showed up!How miraculous, and at the same time preposterous, that our God, our creator and sustainer, would put on flesh and dwell among us! But this incarnation, becoming human, was all part of His master plan and was necessary in order to rescue us from sin, death, and the power of the devil. No wonder it was hard for people to believe that a baby was going to do all of that! But God coming down allowed for the Son to be raised up, and in doing so offered us the hope of our own rising.
In his classic, Miracles, C.S. Lewis describes the Christmas miracle like this: In the Christian story God descends to reascend. He comes down; down from the heights of absolute being into time and space, down into humanity; down further still, if embryologists are right, to repeat in the womb ancient and pre-human phases of life; down to the very roots and seabed of the nature He has created. But He comes down to go up again and bring the whole ruined world up with Him. One has the picture of a strong man stooping lower and lower to get himself underneath some great complicated burden. He must stoop in order to lift, he must almost disappear under the load before he incredibly straightens his back and marches off with the whole mass swaying on his shoulders.
What a great image of the directional action our God took! Coming down in order to raise us up. Brilliant! As Paul describes it, "he made himself nothing..." (Philippians 2:7) so that God's glory could be known. May we always remember the depths our God went to, all for our sake. And may we honor Him, not only this season, but always.
Happy December!
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