Two kinds of people delight in Christmas—little kids and parents of little kids who get to watch their wonder.
Wonder! That’s how I remember my first Christmases. Red, green, winking lights, magical stories of flying reindeer, Bing Crosby singing White Christmas, a tree that my dad cut from the forest, and on and on. Mistletoe. And gifts! Can’t forget gifts.
It was almost like pushing past the fur coats in the Narnia wardrobe and unexpectedly feeling the crunch of snow and the smell of pine. A child’s heart perceives the ‘fairy dust’ most clearly.
Of course, there are two Christmas experiences—secular and spiritual. The secular is fun, though I’m afraid that sometimes Santa, family and pecan pie dwarf the real reason we celebrate.
I attempt to zero in on the God we celebrate. For me, there are two mind-blowing eternal truths that come into focus as we celebrate Christmas.
First it reminds me of Creation!
This one might surprise you. But, if Christmas provokes enchantment in my heart, Creation explodes wonder within me! How do you describe the indescribable, those first moments when God unleashed His creative Word?
Bill Bryson tries (and does a fair job) from a secular standpoint:
“Time does not exist. There is no past for it to emerge from. And so, from nothing, our universe begins.
“In a single blinding pulse, a moment of glory much too swift and expansive for any form of words, the singularity assumes heavenly dimensions, space beyond conception. In the first lively second ... is produced gravity and the other forces that govern physics. In less than a minute the universe is a million billion miles across and growing fast ... In three minutes, 98 percent of all the matter there is or will ever be has been produced. We have a universe.” (A Short History of Nearly Everything, page 10, c. 2003, Broadway Books).
The letter to the Hebrews says it this way: “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.” (Hebrews 11:3 , ESV)
It blows me away to think that something so vast, so mysterious, so intricate as the universe, seen and unseen, was created by the word of the Lord. My brain wobbles trying to imagine it.
And even more wondrous is the reason God created everything, especially us. John of Damascus, an 8th century preacher, said, “God created all things, not because He needed anything, but to manifest His goodness.” Creation, and redeemed mankind especially, is an overflow of God’s goodness.
Incarnation, too
But, there is something else that staggers me as much, or maybe even more, than creation. That’s what we’re celebrating. It’s not Santa, Rudolph and a “ho, ho, ho.”
No, it’s the word spoken by a powerful angel of God to a poor teenage girl whose spirit was alive with love for God, “And the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’” (Luke 1:30-33)
And this wasn’t to come to pass through a sexual act, but “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God...For nothing will be impossible with God.” (Luc 1:35, 37)
Mary said, “Yes,” to her part in God’s plan.
Infinitely Large, Incredibly Small
In creation, God took nothing visible and it “exploded” into a gigantic universe at His word. In the incarnation, God sent His Son and joined divinity with humanity; the God who is bigger than His universe became small enough to fit into a young woman’s womb.
Listen to what God says about this incarnation. ”... Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily..." (Col. 2:9)
“... the Word was God ... And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1:1, 14 ESV)
“Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins ... Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and they shall call his name Immanuel (which means, God with us).” (Matthew 1:20, 23)
Still God, Still Man
And you know what’s crazy? He was fully God and fully man ... and He still is! When He rose from the dead, He didn’t leave the human part of Himself behind. He joined Himself to those who love Him eternally. Fully God, fully man.
“For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus … “(1 Timothy 2:5).
He is the first One to be resurrected eternally. As He is, so we will be. (Also 1 John 3:1, 2)
"I'd love to hear from you—what part of the Christmas story still makes your 'brain wobble' with wonder? Drop a comment and let’s chat."
Merry Christmas
I’ve been writing Coffee Stains for nearly 25 years, and I feel you readers are part of my family. I want to wish you a blessed Christmas and the best that God has for you in this coming year.
And during this Christmas season, listen to Bing C., eat lots of coconut cake, (figgy pudding for my English friends), enjoy seeing your family but most of all thank and worship the One who made us, who became like us and who redeemed us back to Himself.
Oh, come let us adore Him!
Wonder! That’s how I remember my first Christmases. Red, green, winking lights, magical stories of flying reindeer, Bing Crosby singing White Christmas, a tree that my dad cut from the forest, and on and on. Mistletoe. And gifts! Can’t forget gifts.
It was almost like pushing past the fur coats in the Narnia wardrobe and unexpectedly feeling the crunch of snow and the smell of pine. A child’s heart perceives the ‘fairy dust’ most clearly.
Of course, there are two Christmas experiences—secular and spiritual. The secular is fun, though I’m afraid that sometimes Santa, family and pecan pie dwarf the real reason we celebrate.
I attempt to zero in on the God we celebrate. For me, there are two mind-blowing eternal truths that come into focus as we celebrate Christmas.
First it reminds me of Creation!
This one might surprise you. But, if Christmas provokes enchantment in my heart, Creation explodes wonder within me! How do you describe the indescribable, those first moments when God unleashed His creative Word?
Bill Bryson tries (and does a fair job) from a secular standpoint:
“Time does not exist. There is no past for it to emerge from. And so, from nothing, our universe begins.
“In a single blinding pulse, a moment of glory much too swift and expansive for any form of words, the singularity assumes heavenly dimensions, space beyond conception. In the first lively second ... is produced gravity and the other forces that govern physics. In less than a minute the universe is a million billion miles across and growing fast ... In three minutes, 98 percent of all the matter there is or will ever be has been produced. We have a universe.” (A Short History of Nearly Everything, page 10, c. 2003, Broadway Books).
The letter to the Hebrews says it this way: “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.” (Hebrews 11:3 , ESV)
It blows me away to think that something so vast, so mysterious, so intricate as the universe, seen and unseen, was created by the word of the Lord. My brain wobbles trying to imagine it.
And even more wondrous is the reason God created everything, especially us. John of Damascus, an 8th century preacher, said, “God created all things, not because He needed anything, but to manifest His goodness.” Creation, and redeemed mankind especially, is an overflow of God’s goodness.
Incarnation, too
But, there is something else that staggers me as much, or maybe even more, than creation. That’s what we’re celebrating. It’s not Santa, Rudolph and a “ho, ho, ho.”
No, it’s the word spoken by a powerful angel of God to a poor teenage girl whose spirit was alive with love for God, “And the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’” (Luke 1:30-33)
And this wasn’t to come to pass through a sexual act, but “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God...For nothing will be impossible with God.” (Luc 1:35, 37)
Mary said, “Yes,” to her part in God’s plan.
Infinitely Large, Incredibly Small
In creation, God took nothing visible and it “exploded” into a gigantic universe at His word. In the incarnation, God sent His Son and joined divinity with humanity; the God who is bigger than His universe became small enough to fit into a young woman’s womb.
Listen to what God says about this incarnation. ”... Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily..." (Col. 2:9)
“... the Word was God ... And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1:1, 14 ESV)
“Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins ... Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and they shall call his name Immanuel (which means, God with us).” (Matthew 1:20, 23)
Still God, Still Man
And you know what’s crazy? He was fully God and fully man ... and He still is! When He rose from the dead, He didn’t leave the human part of Himself behind. He joined Himself to those who love Him eternally. Fully God, fully man.
“For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus … “(1 Timothy 2:5).
He is the first One to be resurrected eternally. As He is, so we will be. (Also 1 John 3:1, 2)
"I'd love to hear from you—what part of the Christmas story still makes your 'brain wobble' with wonder? Drop a comment and let’s chat."
Merry Christmas
I’ve been writing Coffee Stains for nearly 25 years, and I feel you readers are part of my family. I want to wish you a blessed Christmas and the best that God has for you in this coming year.
And during this Christmas season, listen to Bing C., eat lots of coconut cake, (figgy pudding for my English friends), enjoy seeing your family but most of all thank and worship the One who made us, who became like us and who redeemed us back to Himself.
Oh, come let us adore Him!
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