Today a Saviour is Born

Sometimes I wonder just how much we really understand Christmas. I was guilty today in the fact that I spent about 80% of Christmas hardly thinking a wink about the birth of Christ. It's so easy these days to get caught up in the traditions of Christmas that our culture has created. It seems that we feel comfortable with that part of Christmas. The part of making a big dinner, opening presents, spending time with family... yes that stuff is great, but that is not the purpose of this day. It's easier just to stick with the traditions and not think about God and Jesus. In America, it's more "polite" to not talk about God, so we avoid it. But when you think of it, why is it that we have the freedom to spend time with our family? The freedom to give gifts and put up Christmas lights. Why are we even alive is the real question? Because Jesus was born and He died for our sins. ("She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." Matthew 1:21)

Tonight, I had a different view of Christmas than I usually do. I was able to understand the true meaning of Christmas and it felt right. I watched "The Nativity Story." What a great depiction of Jesus' birth. Not only His birth, but the life of Mary and Joseph! I could not imagine being in Mary's "sandals" in that day. Here is this young peasant girl pledged to be married to a man she barely even knows. And an angel comes to tell her she will conceive a baby. Not just any normal baby. But the Son of God. Jesus. Emmanuel. The Messiah. Wow, what a rush. The pain and shame she must have gone through in her town. This girl looking like she is pregnant from a physical action, yet she is innocent. And nobody believes her that she is conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit! Who could ever believe that? Everyone looked at her with disgust, yet here is this young girl following God's commands. She truly trusted God. She surrendered all of herself for His will. And the outcome of her (and Joseph's) faithfulness was the birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. It seems like such an easy concept to grasp, yet how many times do we NOT follow God's commands? How many times do we back down from what God is trying to tell us? Yet if we just trust Him and follow Him and do what He asks, He works in amazing ways. He is the author of our lives. He is the ultimate creator of the universe and all mankind. I think He knows quite well what He is doing, yet so often we think our plan is better.

I'm kind of going off on a tangent here. But I just want to remind people to remember the true meaning of this Christmas day.(Just look at the word, CHRISTmas) Remember that because of this day, the day this baby was born, we are saved. Stop and remind yourself of the birth of Emmanuel: God with us. The coming of our God born into human flesh.