Maybe it's the warm weather we've been having, maybe it's that exams were just a week and a half ago, maybe it's that this Christmas I've been distracted.
I've been distracted by grades and gifts, by books and Netflix (as relaxing as they may be), by the hustle and bustle of the season.
So today I decided I'd take a moment to sit in the stillness, to reflect on what Christmas really is. Because yes, I know what Christmas is all about, but sometimes my heart forgets to focus and it is then that there really isn't much Christmas spirit left at all.
"The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
on them has light shone...
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore."
Isaiah 9:2, 6-7
Wonderful Counselor to protect us from the enemy, to guide us back into His arms, to remind us of His faithfulness day after day when we doubt Him so often.
Mighty God who breathed the stars and breathed life into my, into your lungs, a Mighty God who has done such great things to bring us close to His heart, to bring us to new life in Him.
Everlasting Father to the orphan, to the lonely, to the abandoned and seemingly forgotten, to those of us who need to be held, to be reminded that we are loved by the Star Breather, our Everlasting Faithful Father.
Prince of Peace to bring us comfort in the midst of the darkest nights, to lift us out of the valleys of life and remind us that in Him we have the "peace that surpasses all understanding."
These characteristics belong to the baby Jesus that was sent to our earth over two thousand years ago in a dirty stable, born to the arms of a teenage girl named Mary.
This Jesus was worshipped first by the lowly shepherds who were told, "Fear not! For behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for ALL the people. For unto you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger."
The angels- a multitude of the heavenly host- filled the sky singing glory to God. Glory to our God who sent His one and only beloved Son to dwell with us.
A baby has come, his name is Immanuel, God with us (Is. 7:14). God with us to dwell among us and show us the power in His name. To do miracles, to proclaim the truth into the darkness, to bring light to the lost, to be a Shepherd to His lost sheep...
This Jesus, this baby is God with us.
God with us to sacrifice Himself, to surrender His life that we may live. To hang upon a cross because of the weight of my sin- of your sin- a crown of thorns resting upon His head, His final words, "It is finished."
The baby who came to bring light into the world, now a man on a rugged cross spoke, "It is finished," and the world went black. The sky was filled with the mourning of the angels, of His Father in Heaven (Luke 23:44).
But Jesus, He is God with us. Our Immanuel, our God with us rose from the grave three days later. Light returned and with His light, our new lives. No longer in darkness, we live in His freedom...
We live in the knowledge and belief that this same baby born on Christmas in a stable died just decades later upon a cross so that we might really be with God, that we may know Him...that no division stand between us and God because Immanuel, God with us, came.
"And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger." Luke 2:16
So let not this Christmas be about the presents...
But about feeling and knowing and resting in His Presence.
Let not this Christmas be about the gifts under the tree...
But about the Greatest Gift that came to hang upon a tree for you and me.
Let not this Christmas be about having the "Spirit of Christmas..."
But about having God's Spirit living and breathing within you.
Give Him room in your heart this Christmas, that He may show you, as He has done for me this morning, all that Christmas means for each and every one of us who are in Christ.
"She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people form their sins. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken to the prophet Isaiah: "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel," which means, God with us." Matthew 1:21-23
Come adore Him-
Immanuel, God with us.
~Bailey
