I was recently listening to the Hillsong Worship Christmas album, and I came across a song I had never heard before, which quickly became my favorite song. "Arrival" is about just about how amazing it truly is that God came to this planet as a man. Most songs are about the cross proving His love for us, and that is true; however, coming here in the first place proved it as well. We as Christians often forget how vital it is that we are aware of what lengths the God of the universe went to in order to simply know us.
It is a common struggle in everyone's life to question God's love or His intentions. In one of his sermon jams, Pastor Judah Smith makes it simple, "Some people ask, even believers today, 'Is God really with us? Does God love me? Is God for me?' The truth is, you don't have to look any further than the incarnation." Judah sums it quite well in this one statement. The fact that God came to the planet He created in the person of Jesus is more than enough to know that He loves us.
It is crazy for me to think about it because I often look at the mundane of my life and see myself as so ordinary; what about me could possibly be worth God living among man? Why would God choose to live among us, the people who disobey and fail Him every day? I am glad it was never about our performance or what we could do for God: He just wanted our hearts from the very beginning of time. He chose that "ordinary" me, the stressed me, the happy me, and any other version of myself there could be. Jesus came here to Earth because He chose me. That is incredible.
The Christmas season reminds me even more than usual about God's love and mercy. I imagine Him lying in a manger being surrounded by people and animals He Himself created. I wonder if they knew the true wonder of that moment. Surely, they were in awe of Him, just like I am. These are the types of thoughts that flow through my mind as I see the Nativity decorations set up, what it was like to be present in that holy night.
I also imagine what Jesus's daily life may have been like: if He had a favorite food, how much He and His disciples laughed together, and what His relationship with Mary and Joseph must have been like growing up. God experienced what it was like to be one of us, and He did it because He wanted us to be in Heaven with Him.
He came to us, so we could someday come to Him.
This year throughout the Christmas season, I encourage you to eat plenty of cookies and candy canes, watch "The Grinch" as much as you can, and decorate your house with as many lights as possible but also do not forget to make time to celebrate Christ. He deserves every bit of celebration He gets, and only His birthday could be so special that a lot of people start celebrating on November 1st.
