One of the
grandest writers and devotions shared lay with Oswald Chambers and his book My Utmost for His Highest. Following is
the entry for Christmas day, December 25th, and I ask that you think about our
new birth as it relates to Jesus’ birth.
"Behold,
the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name
Immanuel," which is translated, "God with us." —
His
Birth in History. “…that Holy One who is to be born
will be called the Son of God (Luke 1:35). Jesus Christ was born into
this world, not from it. He did not emerge out of history; He came into
history from the outside. Jesus Christ is not the best human being the human
race can boast of— He is a Being for whom the human race can take no credit at
all. He is not man becoming God, but God Incarnate— God coming into human flesh
from outside it. His life is the highest and the holiest entering through the
most humble of doors. Our Lord’s birth was an advent— the appearance of God in
human form.
His
Birth in Me. “My little children, for whom I labor
in birth again until Christ is formed in you…” (Galatians 4:19). Just as our Lord came into human
history from outside it, He must also come into me from outside. Have I allowed
my personal human life to become a “Bethlehem” for the Son of God? I cannot
enter the realm of the kingdom of God unless I am born again from above by a
birth totally unlike physical birth. “You must be born again” (John 3:7). This is not a command, but a fact
based on the authority of God. The evidence of the new birth is that I yield
myself so completely to God that “Christ is formed” in me. And once “Christ is
formed” in me, His nature immediately begins to work through me.
God Evident in the Flesh. This is what is made so profoundly
possible for you and for me through the redemption of man by Jesus Christ.
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As a father, a husband, a pastor and a Christian I
see my responsibility and honor to share Jesus with others. He became human for us. We have so much to be thankful for. No other leader gave, or could give, what
Jesus gave us. His sacrifice brought and
brings us life.
This is profound.
A real leaders pours him or herself out for the good of others. Jesus came to serve, not to be serve. To give His life was His purpose, and that is
ours as well.
Thinking about Christmas and Jesus as our gift
reminds me that giving of ourselves and our resources for others is vital. It may change one person or many people’s
eternal destiny. That is a great
deal!
What will we give this Christmas?
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