Christmas

Genesis 1:26

“Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

Christmas

                Let us introduce you to somebody! We do not want to tell you their name yet but we want to introduce you to what makes them tick. It is important for us to understand how they think before we give you their name. We want to explain to you their passions, desires, and what hurts them.

                First off they are passionate about the well-being of others. This person genuinely cares about how well a person is living. Do they have enough food, water, a place to live, clean clothes, and do they have a job? This person thinks about how another is feeling. Are they sick with a disease, depressed, anxious and full of worry? This person wants the other person to genuinely be happy so they do things to help them, be with them for support, help the other person carry their struggles, and provide helpful solutions. This person takes their time in helping the other diagnose their struggle in order to provide the proper solution. When a person is struggling with life this person struggles along with them. Not because they are trying to impress but because this is how they function. This person genuinely cares about putting others first!

                This person is a pleasure to be around. If you knew them they would not be making themselves the center of attention in large groups. This person is characterized by honoring others. This person is characterized by gentleness, courteousness, tenderness, and kindness. If you knew this person then you would know that they would always be making sure you feel welcomed in their home, place of work and just meeting them on the street. They are a warm natured person.

                It takes a lot to get this person angry. They diligently pursue others best interests with sorrow and remorse over others unwillingness to choose life over death. When they do get angry it is because people would rather try to fix their struggles on their own or they can’t seem to see that they are making deadly choices. When they do get angry it is fueled by people who continuously choose death. They see others not embracing life for what it was intended for and they are sorrowful, sad, and angry when they see others marrying themselves to wrong thinking and passions which lead to death and destruction.

                This person’s greatest passion is the name of their Father. God is their Father and they do everything with His help to make His name famous in thought, word, and deed. They orient their life around making the nature of their Father famous. He is selfless. He puts others first. He supplies all people the very breath they are breathing, the very energy it takes to sneeze, say hello, wake up, sit down, speak, act, think, draw, and live. God is life. God is love and love is a life giving source. This person desires to show off their Father every moment of every day with every ounce of energy that God has given them. Their greatest joy is being a good steward of life! Their greatest joy is God!

                God intended this person to be you. You may say, “Wait a minute! That does not describe me but it sure does convict me. I am guilty of not fulfilling any of that perfectly. This is not who I am!” You are right! This example is just a few thoughts as to how an image bearer of God should live as God explains our purpose in Genesis 1:26. In fact the description describes how poor in Spirit we are. This is not an exhaustive list but not meeting this standard is sin and the wages of sin is death. When we compare ourselves to the person described above we can understand what Paul means in Ephesians 2:1 that all are dead in trespasses and sins. We are naturally dead spiritually which leads to physical death and then eternal death.

                The description of the person does describe the person of Jesus Christ. Why? God sent His perfect image of Himself into the world in order to display His loving nature perfectly in bodily form. God’s glory is in giving life to the undeserved and incapable through His Son. God’s glory is giving Himself to us! Jesus radiates the Fathers glory perfectly by displaying the Fathers unmerited favor towards those who are dead and deserve eternal death. Ephesians 1:6 says, “To the praise of the glory of His grace which He freely bestows on us in the beloved.” Our sinfulness provides the black canvas in which God displays His nature the brightest. The number one mission of Jesus Christ was to display the Fathers selfless nature with every ounce of energy He had. In order to do so He must be sinless and that is why God caused a virgin to become pregnant. This Son was born from the seed of God’s Spirit and not sinful humanity.

                God generates life; first by speaking life into existence, then by commanding life to continue and then by giving eternal life by dying. All of God’s efforts in providing life have always been done and always will be done through His Son. His Son displays God’s selfless, compassionate, gracious, loving, just nature to us by living 100% for us. His life was lived for our righteousness, His death was the penalty for our sinfulness, and His resurrection was for our forgiveness. He now is in heaven praying for us and providing for us as the Man Christ Jesus has inherited every one of God’s attributes. A Man is in charge! His desire is that we see the Father and we continue to see the Father through Him. God fully glorifies Himself by giving Himself to us through His Son Jesus Christ. The fullness of God lives in bodily form and that bodily form is Jesus Christ. When you see God and fall in love with Him and His ways through Jesus Christ, He has saved you! You have life and your life is eternal. Your life is the gift of God!

                God is the gift. God is the good news! God is the meaning of Christ! When you savor Jesus as God savors Jesus then you have become a child of God because God is Christmas! Let His glory saturate your soul as you can now freely see Him through the gift of Jesus Christ, the perfect image of the unseen God. No strings attached! He is free to gaze upon through the pages of the Bible. Job 42:5 says, “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; but now my eyes see You.” This is Christmas!