Finding God in Advent预览

God Shows Up in Flesh and Blood

Today was my day to get the mail.

Our home sits on a long, private driveway that we share with some neighbors. Our mailboxes sit together at the end of the road, a few hundred yards from our houses. This normally isn’t a problem; I enjoy taking a short break from my work and stretching my legs.

Today, however, is freezing and wet. The last thing I wanted to do was to trek down the driveway to retrieve what would most likely be a mailbox full of junk mail.

After hours of putting it off, I reluctantly bundled up and hurried down the road.

When I say I hurried, I mean I ran. As fast as this old-dad bod would allow without falling and making a fool of myself.

When I got to the end of the driveway, I reached my gloved hand in the mailbox, grabbed the contents, and quickly ran back to the warm house. As soon as I arrived, I tossed the papers on the kitchen counter.

This was a bad idea.

Without knowing it, I had displayed two catalogs filled with the latest toy trends for the holidays. My kids ran to them like hounds with a fresh scent of food.

They have spent the rest of the day telling me what toys they would like to receive for Christmas.

Here’s the thing: They know Christmas is supposed to be all about Jesus. I know Christmas is supposed to be all about Jesus. And yet we still seem to get sucked into the very powerful cultural current of making Christmas about anything other than Jesus.

I imagine as a young dad reading this, you’re trying your best to keep Christ at the center of Christmas, yet you find yourself slightly stressed with all the obligations that the holidays typically bring.

We have been doing this whole Christmas thing for so long that even though our minds know this day has so much meaning, our hearts sometimes become numb to the reality of what’s actually going on.

Allow me to pause here for a minute here, friend.

Christmas is still life-changing.

Not because it’s a beautiful holiday or filled with meaningful family traditions. Something much bigger is going on.

Christmas is the ultimate act of God showing up.

Let me put it another way: Christmas is proof that God hasn’t given up on humanity. And more specifically, God hasn’t given up on you.

God doesn’t run away from sinful and messy people. In fact, he showed up in flesh and blood. The God of the entire universe moved into our neighborhood.

Let that sink in for a minute.

I know you have a lot going on right now and your to-do list is growing. But hear this good news: God showed up. He always shows up.

You are not too messy for God. You’re not too sinful. He’s not trying to avoid you.

God has always drawn closer to his people rather than running away from them.

As you celebrate Christmas this year, look past the baby in a manger. See the God of the Bible who shows up for all of humanity and for you.