I read this devotion today and it just hit home. Oh how he loves us.... I can not comprehend leaving a kingdom and a throne to become a carpenter, rejected and abused. I can not imagine sending my child to bear the punishment for someone elses sins.... for the sins of the whole world. But now we know him. He walked in our shoes, He faced our same trials, and he conquered them for us! He bled for us. He died for us. He longed for us. So that we could know him. I'm overwhelmed... I long for Him.
Today's Truth
The very heart of Christmas can be found in a familiar verse, a verse we seldom associate with the Christmas season. John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son."
It was Christmas Eve and the family was preparing to attend the church service. Everyone was going, everyone except Dad. He was an honest man, a good man, but he simply could neither understand nor accept the story of the baby in a manger. It was just too far-fetched for the human mind to conceive. How could God allow His Son to give up Heaven for Earth? Why would Jesus want to die for any man? The questions lingered and, not wanting to be a hypocrite, the man chose to stay home rather than sit in a pew with an unbelieving heart.
As his family went out into the cold wintry night, the man added a log to the fire and settled into his favorite chair to read the paper and wait for his family's return. A knock at the window pulled him away from his peaceful reverie and glancing outside, he was stunned to see that the knocking sound was actually a small bird desperately trying to reach the warmth of the fire.
The man thought for a moment, contemplating a solution to the bird's predicament. He opened the window but the bird wouldn't come in. He tried opening the front door, but the bird refused his offer. Finally, the man grabbed his coat and stepped into the Christmas night and God's plan. He trudged through the deepening snow, determined to save the tiny bird by opening the barn doors, convincing the little bird that the barn was safe and warm. Still, the bird refused his solution.
Frustrated, the man thought, "If only I could be a bird, for just a moment, I could lead the bird to safety." Suddenly, the sound of church bells rang through the cold, dark night - and he knew. He finally understood the reason Jesus came - to be one of us - to lead us into the safety of His will.
"And it was necessary for Jesus to be like us so that he could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. For since he himself has now been through suffering and temptation, he knows what it is like when we suffer and are tempted, and he is wonderfully able to help us." Hebrews 2:17-18
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