As soon as Thanksgiving was over this year, I was ready to start decorating and celebrating for Christmas. I love Christmas, and I admittedly get into the music, shopping, red and green everywhere, and Christmas Starbucks cups that serve peppermint hot chocolates.
I hear it often, but none of those things are what Christmas is really about. So, in an effort to be intentional about remembering Christ this year, I am meditating on one verse or passage from the Bible each day to remind me of who Christ is, why He came, and why I should drop everything to celebrate that He did.
Wed, Dec 1st
"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel." Isaiah 7:14
Immanuel means, "God with us." It amazes me that the God who made the world chose to become a man...for His glory and for our salvation. And it amazes me that God is with us. And He wasn't simply with us when He was on earth 2,000 years ago, but He's here now as He indwells the hearts of every believer through the Holy Spirit. Before Jesus came, men and women had access to God only through the rituals of sacrifice, a priest entering the Most Holy Place of the temple, or God choosing to send His Spirit on certain occasions. But now, the curtain that separated us from Him has been torn down, and when we choose to believe in Him, He will never leave or forsake us.
I cannot get over this. I am more grateful for Jesus today than I was the day that I chose to believe in Him for myself, 16 years ago. His grace abounds more to me today than it did then. I need Him more.
I've been listening to a song by Mercy Me called "God with us", and the chorus is:
All that is within me cries
For You alone be glorified:
Emmanuel, God with us.
My heart sings a brand new song.
The debt is paid, these chains are gone.
Emmanuel, God with us.
It should make a difference in my life that I claim to be a Christian. Last year our church played this song during the Christmas Eve service as several folks told their testimonies on pieces of cardboard, sharing how God with them through Christ had changed their lives. I was so encouraged and challenged as I saw so many men and women talk about lives filled with fear, bitterness, loneliness, anger, addiction, and how knowing Christ has led them to a lives filled with peace, joy, community and purpose. Here is the link if you want to check it out.
Merry Christmas - I pray that you would rejoice in the fact that God came to earth as Immanuel...God with us.
