One of the blessings of God in my life was being raised in a
family that loved God and loved each other. A noted result of that is Christmas
is filled with many positive memories for me. Memories from the wonder of a six
year old looking at the presents wrapped under the tree to 30 family members filling
my parents’ home for Christmas dinner seem to bubble up for me this time of
year.
Another memory that seems to re-surface each year is of
being a college student teaching Sunday school. A couple of years in a row, as
I taught 6th graders and then moved up to work with junior high
students (7th-9thgraders), the story of the angel
appearing to Joseph seemed to be a part of the curriculum at Christmas time. Though
the story has much richness to it, one verse repeatedly struck me: Matthew 1:23. It reads:
"Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall call his name Immanuel" (which means, God with us).
For a number of reasons the words “God with us” have always
wowed me. The Lord Jesus came as a baby to save us from our sins, as Matthew
1:21 states, but the reason He did that was to be with us. Perhaps because as a
college student I struggled with issues of personal worth and value, I was
taken back in a good way by the statement that God the Son came to be with us.
God desires to have a relationship with us to the extent that He reached out to
us by coming to us. Though the analogy is far from perfect, indulge me for just
a moment. As a child, and maybe even as an adult, there is something about
having another child knock on your door and ask if you wanted to play. In coming,
the Lord Jesus is like the neighbor kid coming and knocking on the door asking
us to come out and play with Him. As I said, I know the analogy is not perfect,
but it strikes me that Jesus came to be with us. I do not deserve His interest
or attention, but I am dramatically blessed by it. We have been given an incredible
gift in Jesus’ coming.
No longer being in college – now we have two sons and a daughter-in-law
in college, with a third son starting next fall – that Sunday school teaching
college student era seems like a life time ago, but the wowness of Jesus coming
to be with us still shows up every Christmas. And I suppose part of the reason
why is because before the Lord Jesus ascending to heaven, He made an amazing
promise at the very end of the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew 28:20 ends with the
words:
And behold, I am with you always, to
the end of the age.
The gift of God’s presence at Christmas is not just a
Christmas thing. Jesus is not just present during the time you have your
nativity set out. If you are a follower of the Lord Jesus, He has promised to be
present always. That is a Christmas gift that keeps giving and giving to us all
year round. God gives the most incredible gifts. I pray your Christmas is about
celebrating and thanking God for the amazing gift of a relationship with Him
this Christmas.
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