It’s Christmas so it must be time for a message about sweet baby Jesus.
Imagine standing there beside Mary and Joseph and gazing down at the Babe in the Straw. Babies are so precious and lovely and full of promise…
But they’re also messy, demanding and helpless.
In stark contrast with us sophisticated grown-ups, right? Right?
Or could we be honest enough to admit that as adults:
- Our messes get messier—and harder to clean up (think friends or family).
- Our demanding hearts become more self-indulgent (think finances or addictions).
- Our striving after lasting significance is helpless (think personal legacy or mortality).
It’s obviously more comfortable to live in constant distraction and denial than to meditate about such things. But deep down inside we know we are as messy, demanding, and helpless as babies.
Such happy Christmas thoughts!
But it’s not until we really understand the bad news about ourselves that we can fully appreciate the good news about our King Jesus.
He came, in the sweetness of an infant—but with a mission. He didn’t stay in the manger. He came to lead us out of our mess. He grew into the greatest man who ever breathed (the encouragement of a teacher, the grit of a general, the wisdom of a grandfather). Every man you ever admired is only a dim fraction of all that Jesus embodied.
And he’s not a historical character. He is alive and well in glory. Yet He is near to you. He sees you, knows you, likes you, cares about you. He is able to lead you through every single disappointment and burden this world throws at you. He is worth following through this life and into the next.
So Happy Birthday Jesus. But remember that we don’t just celebrate an infant in a manger. We worship much more than that. Jesus Christ entered into the messiness, demands, and helplessness of our world and by His all-surpassing might won for us a future that is precious and lovely and full of promise.
“… [Jesus] is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power” (Hebrews 1:3).
That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.
