As we enter the Advent season, it is easy to get caught up by the world’s idea of Christmas that focuses on Santa and gift giving. But it is important for Christians to reclaim God’s narrative to recognize the importance of Jesus’ birth in human history. We begin this month with the need to recognize Jesus as the coming Lord, not just a holiday object:

IN WORD – Jesus was an enigma. He came into this world as the child of a working-class family from a notably un-noteworthy region of the country. He amazed people with His teaching and His miracles, but He always defied their expectations. When they expected Him to act like an average Galilean, He wouldn’t. When they expected Him to act like a king, He wouldn’t. No one could get a handle on exactly who He was.
The same is true for us today. The God-man, the Creator incarnate, defies our expectations as well. We pray to Him as our King, but He often leads us in the way of true humanity. Then we follow Him as a human example, but He often insists on His kingly authority in our lives. He is not just our teacher, but our Lord. And He is not just our God, but our friend. The enigma of Galilee remains enigmatic today, even as we pray to Him. But what an enigma! He simultaneously fulfills our deepest needs for human fulfillment and for intimacy with the holy. He is exactly the answer to everything we didn’t know we wanted.
IN DEED – Jesus said He came into the world to testify to the truth. This is what Christmas is all about. Think about it—infinite truth in a finite body! It is an answer to all of those questions the philosophers have asked for centuries: Why are we here? Who made us? Where are we going? In Jesus, God pulled back the curtain on divine mysteries and made them visible. Not completely understood, of course, but tangible at least. He opened the window on all that has been going on behind the scenes in this drama we call life. We can see the divine in something as mundane as human history. An enigma? Yes. But a blessed revelation, too. The Incarnation gave us truth—in person. “The hopes and fears of all the years are met in Thee tonight.” —Phillips Brooks (in “At His Feet” by Chris Tiegreen)

We live not only in a postmodern, post-Christian era, but a post-truth era – if you say something often enough, it’s the truth. But today’s devotion reminds us that Jesus is not an object that we can shape for our purposes, but that He is Lord God. Although He came as a baby in a manger, the truth of the matter is that Jesus is humanity’s coming King. His birth is a turn of human history where God’s plans are now aligning all human narratives to the heavenly Father’s in preparation for Jesus the Son’s Return.
What “truths” are you governed by? Is your focus on buying gifts or preparing to spend time with family and friends? Take time this week to reflect on 1 and 2 Peter. It was the apostle Peter’s concern that Christians not be led astray by human narratives, but for Christians to hold firm to God’s. Then ask the Holy Spirit to prepare your heart to welcome the mystery that has now been revealed by Jesus’ birth. Have a blessed week! – from Singapore, Pastor Sam