December 18

The All-Powerful El Shaddai came here to be born as a baby, a human, a mortal, someone capable of pain, anger, frustration, hunger, anxiety, cuts and bruises…death.

He did this for us, for the world actually, even those who would never choose Him, or love Him back, or want His love.

He didn’t choose a life of luxury, earthly royalty or prominence. He chose a humble, simple and sometimes even lonely and painful life. He suffered. He was rejected. We don’t like to hear about the details of his suffering, but the book of Isaiah tells us that many people couldn’t even look at Him at the cross because He had been tortured so much that he was disfigured to the point of not resembling a human.

Hard to think about, hard to hear. You might say,”It’s Christmas, we should be happy and not thinking about things like that.” But, that is what is so profound about Christmas! He CHOSE to come here already knowing that He would suffer those things. The word says that He chose those things for the “Joy set before Him,” -that’s us! We are His Joy, the thought of getting to have us with Him in Heaven got Him through.

So, we are loved by an All-Powerful Mighty God who chose to suffer for us.

Have WE struggled or had hardships in our lives for His sake? Probably doesn’t even come close to being worthy of mention huh?

Hebrews 12:2-4 “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.”

We aren’t bleeding yet, so I guess we have not struggled against sin to a point worth mentioning huh? If we consider obedience an act of gratitude, worship, and love then maybe we can adjust our perspective of it. Sometimes we see obedience as sacrifice. I guess you could say that we are sacrificing our own will and desires for His will and desires. But really, we are not our own anyway, we were bought with a price. So in essence, we are just giving Him back what He already paid for…us!

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.”

Let’s honor Him this Christmas season and always!