Wednesday, December 3, 2008

What Christmas is all about.

I love Christmas. It's my favorite time of the year. The guys that I work with give me all kinds of grief because I start singing and whistling carols just before Halloween (who would guess that a metal shop would'nt be rife with yuletide cheer?). All the songs and the lights and even a few presents are nice, but by themselves it's all kind of empty.
My mind has been filled over the last few days with the the true trappings of Christmas: Jesus and his coming to earth, not just to be a good example or to teach us but the fact that GOD HIMSELF put on flesh and came to earth in the most humble way so that we could have a relationship with him.
Jesus came from Galilee which was a reigion of Judea that was thought to be low-class, he came to poor people who couldn't even afford a lamb for the purification rituals of the first-born child, he was born in a stable because there was nowhere for his parents to lodge for the night and his first bed was a feeding trough.
But he came to save the world. His birth was the beginning of a 33 year journey that was headed for the cross. That was the only reason he was born- to die, for you and for me. The penalty for sin is death and Jesus paid it.
Have you ever got a gift that was just, exaclty what you needed? You did on that first Christmas, so why not unwrap it.