"Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord." (Luke 2:11)
God in a box - a manger, a feed box, a makeshift crib!
Of course, the crude “packaging”, while certainly worth a mention, was not the most important focus. Rather, who it contained and the message it conveyed was central.
Jesus the Saviour is born! God’s answer to the problem of sin!
The message from that manger is that you and I were not good enough to save ourselves.
The Bible says, there is no difference for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God! (Romans 3:23). It’s as though we were lying on the roadside of life, broken, bruised and battered by sin – left to die – but there’s an old song we used to sing growing up in Cape Town, South Africa:
“He lifted us out from the deep miry clay, and he planted our feet on
Canaan’s highway, and that is the reason we sing and we shout, because Jesus came down and he lifted us out!”
One pastor put it this way: “Christmas is an insult because it means that your life is so stuffed up that there was no other way for God to fix it than to become a human being and die for your sins!
I remember reading a bumper sticker once – “God loves you just the way you are, but He loves you too much to leave you the same!” Praise God that He didn’t’ leave us the same; His mercy, grace and love refused to leave us wallowing about in a sea of sin and confusion! He stepped in!
That’s what we get from that Bethlehem Box. The message from the manger is one of Salvation! A Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.
Pause and reflect:
· How does it make you feel to know that God loves so much that He sent Jesus?
· If you’re grateful, why not thank Him now.
· If you don’t know Him as your Saviour, why not ask Him now to enter your life.
PRAYER:
Jesus, Saviour of the world,
Be my Saviour too;
Take away the guilt, the sin, the shame,
Create in me a heart that’s new.