The Incarnation of Jesus: An Overwhelming Grace

The Incarnation of Jesus:
An Overwhelming Grace

There are lots of emotions that come with Christmas. Panic, for example, when you realize how few shopping days remain between now and December 25. Anger might be your emotion if you get asked if you are on your way to an Ugly Christmas Sweater Party and you are not. Hopefully, gratitude will be your response when you open gifts on Christmas morning (or Christmas eve). When I consider what Christmas really means, I have an overwhelming sense of God’s love.

In chapter one of his Gospel, John carefully describes who Jesus is as the “Word” and then goes on to describe the miracle that happened at Christmas when “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14 NIV). God came in the form of the Son to live among us to show us the way and to make a way for our salvation. 

At Christmas, we celebrate this glorious coming, the incarnation of the Christ Child into the world. His coming from God the Father was full of grace and truth. Jesus was full of grace for He would be the most concrete expression of God’s sacrificial love. He was full of truth for He announced that He was the only way to God.

The incarnation of Christ is the model for how we should relate to those around us. As leaders, teachers, neighbors, family members, and friends, we have the opportunity and responsibility to take the presence and love of Christ to those around us (see 2 Corinthians 5). This Christmas season, I encourage you to find new ways to share the overwhelming love of Christ as we celebrate His coming into our world!

Merry Christmas!

Roger

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Salt and Light in Unsettling Times

The events of Wednesday, January 6, 2021 in our nation’s capitol were deeply unsettling. Our country is deeply divided over many issues. Further, we remain in the midst of a global pandemic, people’s thoughts are frenzied, their emotions are frayed, and fear reigns in many hearts and minds of many. What is your role and mine as Christians in our culture in 2021? Jesus said about us as His followers, “you are the salt of the earth . . . You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:13-14 NIV). It is hard for us to be salt and light in our culture just now. We are sorting through the same issues and emotions as everyone else. However, as followers of Jesus, we are called to respond differently! Here is how the Apostle Paul described that difference, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same min...
Read more

"Reflections on a Great Awakening: Memories of a [then] Nine-Year-Old of the Asbury-Anderson Revival of 1970"

Image
(Sunday evening message on February 10, 2020 at First Baptist Church of Saint Albans, West Virginia on the 50th anniversary of the 1970 revival.) I want to tell you a story of God’s moving that is so incredible that it is still being celebrated fifty years later. Next weekend South Meridian Church of God will celebrate a great time of renewal that some call “The Revival of Love” and others refer to as a great awakening. As I tell you my story, please keep in mind that as I experienced this revival, I was a nine-year-old child whose perspectives were shaped by my youth. However, I have found that children can be insightful about spiritual things, as I hope that in some ways I may have been. In order to refresh my memories and fill in some gaps, I reread One Divine Moment , edited by Robert Coleman and David Gyertson which recapped the events at Asbury College and A New Wind Blowing by Pastor Charles Tarr about the events in Anderson, Indiana. South Meridian Church was often an exciting...
Read more

Carol Lyrics

Angels We Have Heard on High (2) [Verse 1] Angels we have heard on high Sweetly swinging o'er the plains And the mountains in reply Echoing their joyous strains [Chorus] Gloria In Excelsis Deo Gloria In Excelsis Deo [Verse 2] Shepherds why this jubilee? Why your joyous strains prolong? What the gladsome tidings be Which inspire your heavenly song? [Verse 3] Come to Bethlehem and see Him Whose birth the angels sing; Come, adore on bended knee Christ the Lord, the newborn King [Verse 4] See Him in a manger laid Whom the choirs of angels praise Mary, Joseph lend your aid While our hearts in love we raise. Away In a Manger (3) [Verse 1] Away in a manger, no crib for a bed The little Lord Jesus laid down His sweet head The stars in the bright sky looked down where He lay The little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay [Verse 2] The cattle are lowing, the poor Baby awakes But little Lord Jesus, no crying He makes I love Thee, Lord...
Read more