When my husband and I were engaged we did an engaged couple’s devotion book together. In the book, the author wrote a wedding day devotion for both the husband to be and the wife to be. At first glance, that could sound strange, read a devotion on your wedding day? Isn’t that the craziest and busiest day of your life? Well, that may be true but taking time to slow down and reflect during the morning of the wedding was much-needed. It was a tangible way of saying we are going to make God the center of our marriage by starting off the day in his word.
It can be very easy to let your relationship with Christ take a back seat around the holidays. You are buying gifts, making delicious food, and seeing family. With how busy we get, we can forget the entire reason behind our celebrating; Jesus. Christmas morning is similar to a wedding day, you have so much to do and look forward to but taking time to pause and think about what this day actually means could put an overwhelmed heart in the right place.
This day is about Jesus coming as a baby. Not a mighty warrior or a conqueror, but a vulnerable baby. If someone tried to harm him he couldn’t fight back, he couldn’t even speak. But coming as a baby through Mary meant that the entirety of humanity, from birth to death could be redeemed. The savior of the world was coming through a woman in the fragility of the birthing process. He would then grow up as a child, teen, and young adult when he would start his ministry around 30 years old.
Matthew 1:23 says, “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which translated means, “God with us.”
Jesus walked this earth, fully human and fully God. He laughed, cried, taught, stood up for those who couldn’t stand up for themselves. People saw him every day, some even saw him die on the cross and rise again. However, even with seeing with their very own eyes some still did not believe he was Immanuel. Scripture teaches us that seeing is not believing, but believing without seeing shows great faith.
In our world today, many people see the errors humanity is making but do not believe them to be sinful. They see creation every day but do not believe in a creator. They see love every day but do not believe in a God that is made up of love himself. They may even see hate every day but do not believe in an enemy that is trying to destroy them.
Christians are made fun of for their faith, Mary is still being called a liar, many are still waiting for their savior because they cannot accept Jesus came as a gentle baby. There is so much confusion in the world today because seeing is not believing. Believing is knowing there is a God who loves you enough to send his only son as a fragile baby to then die for you on the cross so he could be with you in heaven and that is what Christmas is about.
Source: https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Baby-Jesus