The Kneeland's

This morning before our family started celebrating Christmas with the opening of presents, around the Christmas tree and with grandparents, I was dwelling on a verse from Romans. I came to this verse with a desire to get my heart focused on the reality of what we are celebrating. It is not just presents, decorations, or even family. It is the birth of a baby in a manager. Yet even that at face value isn’t the truth of our celebrations. The “why” behind the birth is the true reason we ought to celebrate, but to see the “why” we must first think of the “what.”

Christ was born, God in flesh, God coming down to live among us. Coming to achieve the single most important thing of all time, the single thing that all time truly points at and is focused on. God, coming down from His perfect, majestic, and holy throne in heaven to be born in a nasty, dirty and lowly barn. It’s not even a modest hospital, not even compared to a home birth, its where animals live, sleep, eat and drop their waste. The Creator of the universe being born into a human body in the absolute most humble environment. This was just the beginning of the example given of this baby, the example of His love for us. His love for us is truly the “why” behind the birth. His never ending pursuit of our hearts and lives begins with a baby in a feeding basin in a barn.

So why does his humility show us His love? Because a God who reigns over His people and has lived on their level, understands and has compassion on their lives. The contrast would be a ruler who orders his people’s allegiance, demands their obedience and has no love for them.

But He saw us as being worth it, being worth leaving His place in heaven in the midst of all perfection and coming down to live among us, so that He might show His extreme passion and love for us.

Romans 8:38 and 39 reminded me of this even further today.

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Merry Christmas everyone!  I pray you remember and know His never ending, truly non-conditional, love for you today and always!