John 3:16, John 10:10

Josiah Parr

To quote an old Christmas carol sung by Bing Crosby, 'It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas everywhere you go'. The season has truly begun, with high streets and shopping centres crammed full of people in a last minute dash to buy presents. Offices emptying early to celebrate the end of another year and children counting down the days, hours and minutes until they can pick up their presents from underneath the Christmas tree.

Could this be anymore different to the setting in which Jesus was born?

When all is said and done, I find myself desperate to connect with the truth of this season.

Imagine Joseph as he met with angels and discovered his fiancé was pregnant.

Imagine Mary filled with excitement and fear over the baby growing inside her.

Imagine the wise men arriving to the lowly stable to meet the King of all kings.

The world was groaning for a Saviour and He arrived not via the front door where all could marvel at his majesty but slipped quietly through the back door, born as a man.

Did you ever think of the reason God would send his only Son? Can you connect the story of Christmas and salvation? The best way that I can connect them is through these two scriptures:

John 3:16, 'This is how much God loved the world: He gave His Son, His one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in Him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life.'

John 10:10 'I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.'

It's incredible that by God giving up His Son, we are blessed with not just an eternal life, but a life better then we could ever dream of. Jesus was born to give us life.

It seems to me that in the busyness of the season, it is a choice to stop and listen to the voice of God. To celebrate that through his sacrifice we have life that is worth living.

Stopping to remember doesn't change the fact that there will be trees in living rooms, credit cards to fund extravagant gifts and dinner at the in-laws, but what it will do is remind us that God has a plan today. To continue to redeem us with the same redemption plan which began in sending His Son into the world, in such undignified circumstances. God is in this season!