Hopefully you have been warming yourself up with some hot chocolate, devouring Christmas cookies, and enjoying carols on the radio. Here in Seattle, it's rainier than ever, and I arrive to work every morning with wet socks, but I like to imagine it's snow. I'm even almost done with my Christmas shopping.
This is the season the entire world leans in to remember the birth of the most significant person in all of recorded history (according to a recent analysis by Wikipedia). I think it's incredibly remarkable that even our calendars are based around this humble birth in Bethlehem, which was populated by probably 700 individuals or less at the time. And right in the middle of the ordinary, on an otherwise forgettable day, God entered our world.
Jesus was "born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth." He came as light for a troubled, war-torn, loveless world. He didn't come to make bad people good; He came to make the dead alive. A powerful verse from this Advent season is Isaiah 60:1-3:
Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.
For behold, darkness shall cover the earth,
and thick darkness the peoples;
but the LORD will arise upon you,
and His glory will be seen upon you.
And nations shall come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your rising.
Notice the ending. "His glory will be seen upon you." Apparently this glory, the reflection of the light of Christ, will be something of an attraction for the rest of the world. People will be drawn to the light they see in us. That light is the Person and work of Christ operating in us, manifesting itself through forgiveness, generosity, and kindness.
This Christmas season, I pray that Christ's glory will be seen in us, and that "nations" will come to that light. May His glory and presence triumph through the cold winter, bringing warmth to our hearts and those that are attracted to His light.
I hope you have a very, very wonderful Christmas,
Josh
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