“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they
shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).
This year, I tried to keep my eyes on Christ during the
Christmas season. I’m sure I did not do
a good job. I kept getting distracting
with the shopping and the presents and the stress and the grumpiness that comes
with the holidays. But one thing is for sure,
I think this Christmas was the first time ever I considered the birth of Christ
from a different perspective.
I mean, I’ve always looked at it from what we have gained
from that act of God in which He became flesh for us. But I truly don’t think I’ve ever thought of
this event from the perspective of what Jesus had to give up to come down here
and become our Redeemer in the flesh.
He left heaven behind…
If that thought doesn’t shake me to the core, I don’t know
what would.
He left heaven behind…for me.
He left the majestic fellowship of the Trinity to be with
us, here, on Earth. He left perfection
to enter this world of misery. He left
an environment of bliss to dwell in a pit of darkness, pain and death. And He did it all for love…for the love He cannot
help to feel for the likes of me. He
became Our Immanuel, so we would not feel so alone on our walk through the
valley of shadows.
I never stopped to think how, while I celebrate the opening
of gifts to commemorate another year of His glorious birth…for Him it is the
anniversary of the moment in which He stepped down from a position of infinite
divinity into the self-imposed limitations of humanity. How much more should I ask of Him? Why do I still feel the sting of doubt and
the chill of fear?
I do, because in my materialism and in my love for this
world, I take my eyes off from the thoughts of eternity and focus on the
perishable.
May the Lord, in all His unending love for me continue to
remind me in unexpected and creative ways that He is the Immanuel and that as
such, I need not feel afraid or alone anymore.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We
have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the
Father, full of grace and truth. John 1: 14
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