Christmas

Today we celebrate Christmas, the day that Jesus Christ was born. I try to imagine what that must have been like for Him, entering our four dimensional home of space and time. He who had existed eternally, the Omniscient, Omnibenevolent, residing outside of any of the restrictions we experience within this realm, reducing Himself to such a degree that the human equivalent would be like one of us becoming a slug. Deity taking on one of the weakest and most vulnerable forms of all, that of a human child, confining Himself inside the parameters of a man. I ponder all He gave up, immersion in a perpetual bath of love, constant fellowship with God and the Spirit, not to mention, interaction with legions of angels, all the wonders of the Universe, and the beauty of that place we call Heaven. He left all of that behind to begin life here as an ovum, then a fetus, culminating in an infant. We must remind ourselves that an infant is not in control of anything, not even its bowels, it is utterly vulnerable. His emptying of Himself was complete, none of His God-like attributes remained, other than that of love. The God of the universe willingly submitted Himself into the hands of two human beings, probably not much more than teenagers, trusting them to care for Him, provide for Him, and to protect Him. I see much of this act as degrading, He saw it as submitting Himself to the Father, humility exemplified. Here entered this Jesus into a universe at war. He infiltrated the enemy’s home turf, risking all, for the sake of beings that would reject Him, would hate Him, would defy Him at every turn, and would ultimately murder Him.

We are told He did this out of His great love for us. I have never been able to, nor will I ever understand, on this side of eternity anyway, love like this. As we celebrate this day, let us reflect upon these things. He is worthy of our love, adoration, and our worship.

Philippians 2:5-8

“Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.” The Message