Reason #334
Today has been a Christmas-y day for me. I listened to Christmas songs all day long. I'm loving the fact that some of the stations are now exclusively playing Christmas music 24/7. I also spent the evening watching a Hallmark movie with my mom. It was definitely cheesy but the acting was pretty good! So predictable, but I still enjoyed watching it.
On the way home, I had to stop by the pharmacy. As I sat in the drive-thru, a song came on the radio that I hadn't heard before. I turned it up and listened to the words. The chorus said:
I thought about the contrast in this song. Because most Christmas songs just talk about Jesus coming as a baby. The promised child, the Messiah coming as a sweet and gentle infant. But rarely do Christmas songs talk about the death of this baby. Truthfully, it seems a little morbid to go from celebrating new life with the first breath to ending life with the last breath. But that's why He came. He came to walk and breathe and live among us so that with every breath, He could serve His father and by breathing His last, He could save our lives. Think about a time when you faced something big. When you knew that there was no turning back. You had made a life changing decision and the time had come to follow through with it. And so, maybe with nerves on end, knots in your stomach, you took a big breath and you thought, "Here it goes." And I have to think that's what He did that starry night. With a big breath, as He the first cry escaped from His completely human mouth, "Here it goes." The time was here. He had come! But He came with a plan, not an easy plan, not a pain-free, effortless plan, one that would require much of Him. A plan that was set in motion long before anything existed, and one He would take 33 years to fulfill. A plan that took time to unfold, and a plan that is still in the works. And so a tiny little baby lay in a wooden box, a manger, on His first night here. And because He chose to do that, to come and join us, He later bore our sins and shame and died our death on a wooden cross.
He knew this from the start. He knew what His future held and yet He didn't hold back. Because of His great love, He chose a humble birth and died a humiliating death to make a way for us. A way for us to have a relationship with the Creator of the Universe. A way for us to be forgiven and rescued. He made a way because He is the way. So I'm grateful for that. That He would love me that dearly to send Heaven to earth so that I could be His forever. And I am eternally thankful that He would go to such great lengths to make a way for that to happen.
#334 - Because He always makes a way for us.
"But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.” - Galatians 4:4-6
On the way home, I had to stop by the pharmacy. As I sat in the drive-thru, a song came on the radio that I hadn't heard before. I turned it up and listened to the words. The chorus said:
"He made a way in a manger
To make a way to the cross..."
I thought about the contrast in this song. Because most Christmas songs just talk about Jesus coming as a baby. The promised child, the Messiah coming as a sweet and gentle infant. But rarely do Christmas songs talk about the death of this baby. Truthfully, it seems a little morbid to go from celebrating new life with the first breath to ending life with the last breath. But that's why He came. He came to walk and breathe and live among us so that with every breath, He could serve His father and by breathing His last, He could save our lives. Think about a time when you faced something big. When you knew that there was no turning back. You had made a life changing decision and the time had come to follow through with it. And so, maybe with nerves on end, knots in your stomach, you took a big breath and you thought, "Here it goes." And I have to think that's what He did that starry night. With a big breath, as He the first cry escaped from His completely human mouth, "Here it goes." The time was here. He had come! But He came with a plan, not an easy plan, not a pain-free, effortless plan, one that would require much of Him. A plan that was set in motion long before anything existed, and one He would take 33 years to fulfill. A plan that took time to unfold, and a plan that is still in the works. And so a tiny little baby lay in a wooden box, a manger, on His first night here. And because He chose to do that, to come and join us, He later bore our sins and shame and died our death on a wooden cross.
He knew this from the start. He knew what His future held and yet He didn't hold back. Because of His great love, He chose a humble birth and died a humiliating death to make a way for us. A way for us to have a relationship with the Creator of the Universe. A way for us to be forgiven and rescued. He made a way because He is the way. So I'm grateful for that. That He would love me that dearly to send Heaven to earth so that I could be His forever. And I am eternally thankful that He would go to such great lengths to make a way for that to happen.
#334 - Because He always makes a way for us.
"But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.” - Galatians 4:4-6