T
his time of year awakens the senses of people all around the world in a million different ways. You can hear talk of those who simply love the colored lights, the hurry involved in last minute Christmas gift shopping, and even the smell of a freshly cut tree, as many recall their favorites things about Christmas. Parents are very careful to
remind their children that they must be good if they want Santa to
bring them toys on Christmas Eve night. So, children all around the
world are hoping they’ve been good enough for a jolly old man adorned
in a red and white suit to make his annual stop at their house one more
year, with all of the toys mentioned on their ever growing wish list.
Non-Christians are celebrating the holidays with Holiday cake and Holiday trees, while Christians are celebrating Christmas with Christmas dinner and Christmas trees, trimmed to the max. Of course, ample time must be set aside for emailing and lambasting one another for whichever reference they choose for the day. We wouldn’t want to miss out on that cheer, now would we?
All the while, Jesus sits at the right hand of his Father, leaning forward to rest his head upon two nail scarred hands, gently clasped together…as He remembers the real reason for the season, the scurry and the debate surrounding the day celebrated below.
Surely Jesus recalls the day that His Father summoned Him to His side for the task that would begin with the virgin birth of a baby who would save the world. Listening closely, Jesus must have stood in awe at the honor of being chosen as the gift that would signify all gift giving for a multitude of Christmas days to follow.
The Father must have carefully explained that His creation, try as He may…could not achieve in and of Himself the greatness it would take to touch the face of God. No, it would take Greatness reaching down to touch the very heart of sinful man with the most precious Christmas gift of all.
On that very first Christmas, God sent His gift of grace. Announcing His plan to an unwed virgin, God tenderly wrapped His royal seed and placed His own Son inside Mary’s womb, thereby paving the way for His gift of grace to be delivered in the form of baby Jesus to a lowly manger.
Jesus…..Jesus. Just as Mary had been promised, she was chosen to bring to life the greatest Christmas gift of all. Jesus. Wrapped in swaddling clothes underneath a starlit sky, Grace was given to man.
Of course, this was just the beginning of the story. As it has been since the day of His birth, Grace comes by way of a treacherous road. That which is truly free is the hardest gift of all to deliver to the proud heart of mankind. Jesus would go on to be adored and beloved by the broken and hurting, yet discarded as nothing more than a grand annoyance for those who saw Grace as a clever ploy to steal the thunder of their personal greatness and achievements. If you want to enrage the heart of sinful man, tell him he will stand before God one day, “Redeemed and Free”, by no measure of himself, but by the gift of Grace, offered at the feet of His creation on that very first Christmas day. We have continued for more than two thousand years to co-mingle our goodness with the majesty of Grace, an idea as absurd as our adding a single brush stroke to a priceless Rembrandt would somehow make it more valuable, especially when merely touching a Rembrandt with our inferior artistry instantly renders it…”worthless.”
Nevertheless, although Jesus was eventually crucified by the very ones who relied on their personal holiness and greatness to enter Heaven, the free gift of Grace lives today as the only way to touch the face of God. “For it is by Grace, and that not of ourselves…lest any man should boast.”
I write today as a man who doesn’t adore most of the things that surround the Christmas season. Christmas memories for me growing up as a child don’t bring warm thoughts of family, hugs, and joy that I’ve grown to cherish over the years of raising my sons, and now watching my grandchildren enjoy the thrill of Christmas morning. Today, as I approach the beginning of my days that will lead me into old age, I’m reminded so much more of why I choose to celebrate Christmas.
I’m certainly not one to enter into the arguments over Holiday trees versus Christmas trees, and I’m not interested in joining vast email campaigns with the heading, “Help put Christ back in Christmas!” With only one-third of life left for me on this earth at best, my focus is on a much higher mark these days, “The high calling and honor of helping to bring Christ to the heart of man.”
I find myself grateful for the gift that changed it all for me. Grace. The gift I could never work long or hard enough to pay for, or try as I may…live good enough to even merit unwrapping the package. I’m so very thankful it is and always will be free, so very thankful indeed.
May we pause with our families this Christmas and give thanks, allowing our greatest works and achievements to fade to their proper place in the shadows of unworthiness, as the light of God’s most precious gift is remembered by all..........Christmas Grace.
All the while, Jesus sits at the right hand of his Father, leaning forward to rest his head upon two nail scarred hands, gently clasped together…as He remembers the real reason for the season, the scurry and the debate surrounding the day celebrated below.
Surely Jesus recalls the day that His Father summoned Him to His side for the task that would begin with the virgin birth of a baby who would save the world. Listening closely, Jesus must have stood in awe at the honor of being chosen as the gift that would signify all gift giving for a multitude of Christmas days to follow.
The Father must have carefully explained that His creation, try as He may…could not achieve in and of Himself the greatness it would take to touch the face of God. No, it would take Greatness reaching down to touch the very heart of sinful man with the most precious Christmas gift of all.
On that very first Christmas, God sent His gift of grace. Announcing His plan to an unwed virgin, God tenderly wrapped His royal seed and placed His own Son inside Mary’s womb, thereby paving the way for His gift of grace to be delivered in the form of baby Jesus to a lowly manger.
Jesus…..Jesus. Just as Mary had been promised, she was chosen to bring to life the greatest Christmas gift of all. Jesus. Wrapped in swaddling clothes underneath a starlit sky, Grace was given to man.
Of course, this was just the beginning of the story. As it has been since the day of His birth, Grace comes by way of a treacherous road. That which is truly free is the hardest gift of all to deliver to the proud heart of mankind. Jesus would go on to be adored and beloved by the broken and hurting, yet discarded as nothing more than a grand annoyance for those who saw Grace as a clever ploy to steal the thunder of their personal greatness and achievements. If you want to enrage the heart of sinful man, tell him he will stand before God one day, “Redeemed and Free”, by no measure of himself, but by the gift of Grace, offered at the feet of His creation on that very first Christmas day. We have continued for more than two thousand years to co-mingle our goodness with the majesty of Grace, an idea as absurd as our adding a single brush stroke to a priceless Rembrandt would somehow make it more valuable, especially when merely touching a Rembrandt with our inferior artistry instantly renders it…”worthless.”
Nevertheless, although Jesus was eventually crucified by the very ones who relied on their personal holiness and greatness to enter Heaven, the free gift of Grace lives today as the only way to touch the face of God. “For it is by Grace, and that not of ourselves…lest any man should boast.”
I write today as a man who doesn’t adore most of the things that surround the Christmas season. Christmas memories for me growing up as a child don’t bring warm thoughts of family, hugs, and joy that I’ve grown to cherish over the years of raising my sons, and now watching my grandchildren enjoy the thrill of Christmas morning. Today, as I approach the beginning of my days that will lead me into old age, I’m reminded so much more of why I choose to celebrate Christmas.
I’m certainly not one to enter into the arguments over Holiday trees versus Christmas trees, and I’m not interested in joining vast email campaigns with the heading, “Help put Christ back in Christmas!” With only one-third of life left for me on this earth at best, my focus is on a much higher mark these days, “The high calling and honor of helping to bring Christ to the heart of man.”
I find myself grateful for the gift that changed it all for me. Grace. The gift I could never work long or hard enough to pay for, or try as I may…live good enough to even merit unwrapping the package. I’m so very thankful it is and always will be free, so very thankful indeed.
May we pause with our families this Christmas and give thanks, allowing our greatest works and achievements to fade to their proper place in the shadows of unworthiness, as the light of God’s most precious gift is remembered by all..........Christmas Grace.
