Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Is Jesus Away With the Manger?

What will you do with Jesus now that the Christmas season is over?  Maybe you will tuck Jesus away along with all of the Christmas decorations that come down after the 25th.  I urge you not to do that this year!  Really, we should be in awe of Jesus‘ coming to the earth as a baby boy every day.  We should be in awe because He came to offer every one of us forgiveness of sin.  
Forgiveness.  A complete cleansing.  A new life.  And it comes not through our own efforts to be “good enough” (see Ephesians 2:8-9)  We can never be good enough to measure up to God’s standard, which is perfection.  
This makes me think about the movie Mary Poppins.  (Another piece of evidence that I have young children!)  There is a point in the movie where Mary Poppins pulls a tape measure out of her bottomless carpet bag.  This isn’t any old tape measure; when she measures the children, each one “measures up” to an accurate description of personality and behavior.  When Mary is measured, it reads “practically perfect in every way.”  Imagine God’s tape measure: the standard is PERFECTION.  Only Jesus Christ “measures up.”  I won’t even tell you what my “height” would read!   Completely perfect in every way.  This is why we need a Savior!  None of us measures up without Jesus. 
The Creator of the world, the entire universe clothed Himself in human flesh and walked the earth (see Colossians 1:13-17).
The King of kings humbled Himself and left the magnificence of Heaven to become a servant and to give up His life for us (Mark 10:45).
The Ruler of all things came to the earth for one purpose: to be the final, ultimate sacrifice for sin, to offer us forgiveness of sin because without the shedding of blood sin cannot be forgiven (Hebrews 9:22).
This is just a sampling of what Jesus’ birth really means, and what those of us who believe in Jesus and trust Him as our Lord ought to celebrate at Christmas time and give thanks for every day of our lives.

Rachel

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