Heavenly Father,
Your Creation showcases Your creative power;
with a word You created the world,
day and night,
sky and earth,
land and sea,
and filled it with every living thing.
Creation reveals Your generosity,
For You were not content to create only a garden,
or a country,
or even a whole world,
but You created a vast universe for us
and gave Your blessing to fill the earth and subdue it.
The intricacies of it, the diversity in it, and the unity of it all speak to Your wisdom that surpasses our understanding.
The provision in it of everything we need,
food,
shelter,
family,
and the ability to enjoy it
shows us that You are good.
Yet despite all this, we turned away from You.
We turned against You.
Instead of trusting You, we treated you with suspicion.
Instead of thanking You, we took from You.
Instead of loving You, we treated You with contempt, and rebelled against You.
In light of our guilt, as wonderful as the miracle of creation is, it pales in comparison to the miracle of the incarnation. The incarnation reveals that You are a God who is full of love, a tenacious and gracious love that is unwilling to let our sin and guilt keep You from loving us.
The incarnation revealed that You are full of compassion and mercy. Not willing that we should perish, but that we turn back to You and find forgiveness.
The incarnation shows that You are far beyond our wisdom and knowledge—bringing together the Creator and he created.
You did not need to do it.
We did not deserve it.
Therefore such a grand act of love, grace, and compassion shows us that You are no dispassionate God who desires to remain at a distance; rather it shows that You are intimately involved in it,
and want to be intimately involved with us.
Thank You for the gift of the incarnation of Jesus Christ.
A greater gift You could not have given.
We cannot fathom such love,
a love that would give so freely and so completely to people who have and continue to hurt You,
and fight You,
and deny You so much.
Thank You Jesus,
for loving Your Father and us enough to unite Yourself with a human body on our behalf.
This was not a temporary thing, nor was it merely a likeness.
But You united Yourself to human form in such a way that You are now and forever both fully God and fully human.
You were willing to make visible the invisible
so that we could see,
hear,
and know
the Father as You do,
for You are his exact image and likeness.
To know You is to know Him.
To see You is to see Him.
In loving You, we love Him.
We thank You Jesus,
for the gift of Your Spirit,
who has united our life to Yours so intimately that our lives are bound up with Yours.
So much so, that it is in You that we live
and move
and have our being.
As You came into the world to seek the lost,
may we do the same.
As you were not above being born into a meek and lowly place,
may we not withhold Your grace from anyone or any place.
As You loved us,
may we love one another.
As You were willing to trust Your Father and the Spirit to provide and protect You though Mary and Joseph knowing that being born into this world mean that You would be powerless as a baby,
may we have that same trust in the Father’s love and the Spirit’s care.
On this Christmas Eve, may our thankfulness and joy for the gift of Jesus Christ be clearly seen in living out that joy.
May we be as bright as the star You put in the sky that led the wise men of the East to Your Son.
May our lives, like that star,
draw all Your children Home.
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