UNWRAPPING THE GREATEST GIFT
Can you remember the anticipation of Christmas morning?
Back in the days when Christmas seemed so far away, we couldn’t wait to huddle beneath the tree and unwrap our gifts. The anticipation was so great, we didn’t even want to eat breakfast or get dressed…we went straight for the tree still dressed in our pajamas.
Can you think back to those days? Can you smell the cookies baking in the oven? What are your favorite memories?
How about reflecting this morning on the wonderful Christmas story and the intervention of our Creator God-King throughout human history?!!
Okay, let’s grab that cup of coffee and ponder keeping in mind that this story is not only about world history, but also a story about you and me.
God has drawn us into His story!!
Like all stories, it begins in the beginning. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. God is not only the Creator, we find as we flip through the pages of history that God is also a God of love.
The story of human history begins with love.
In the beginning, God spoke the world into existence. But when it came to the creation of man…He did something different. We see God gathering up dirt and dust and shaping it into a man. Then God breathed into Adam’s nostrils the breath of life.
Picture this…God kneeling close to the earth where He gathers up the dust and dirt. He draws closerand closer to Adam until His very breath touches Adam’s skin. Then the very life of God fills him.
The story of man begins with a “kiss”.
As the story unfolds, God intervenes in human affairs until the climax of human history when the Creator God-King puts on flesh and walks with man.
In Jesus Christ we see the love of God. He touches the sick, heals the lame, the blind and the deaf, and raises the dead, and weeps with those who mourn. Until ultimately, He exchanges His life for ours.
In the grand story, God steps into the world He created to show us His love.
And guess how He enters? He comes to us through a family.
When we trace the family tree of Jesus, what do we find? People who are big cheaters, bad liars, fighting families, and brokenness. Do we know any families like that?!!
The Scriptures says that…
Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot –yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root. And the Spirit of the LORD will rest on him the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD…In that day the heir to David’s throne will be a banner of salvation to all the world. The nations will rally to him and the land where he lives will be a glorious place. Isaiah 11:1-2;10
David’s family had made such a mess of things that his family tree had become a stump. Yet, out of the stump comes a budding branch of hope, new starts, and new freedom for the whole family!
The stump becomes the place where love grows!
When man makes a mess of things, God comes to fix our brokenness.
When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden they hid from the LORD among the trees. The Scriptures tell us that the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?”
He did not say, “What in the world have you done or why did you do this?” He said, “Where are you?
God is looking for you!
As you put up your tree this Christmas, think of the family tree of David. This is the family tree of Jesus. When all hope seemed to be gone, He came into our world to fix it and to fix our brokenness.
Come and be kissed by God and loved into His forever family. Unwrap the greatest gift ever…the gift of love.
Wishing you a very Merry Christmas!