#jesus

While there are things we don’t know about the wise men, here are the things we know for certain. These men made a great sacrifice to see Jesus. They traveled a great distance. They brought their best to him. They sought Jesus and didn’t stop until they found him. They worshiped him. That is the heart of the magi story. And…that should be the heart of our Christmas story as well.

Have you seen the Lord’s salvation? Have you experienced the peace that Jesus brings? The little baby Simeon held, grew up and went to the cross to die for your sins. It is only through Jesus that we can have peace with God. I invite you to pray the following prayer and trust in Jesus today.

Seeing Jesus transforms our lives. Trusting in him reroutes our direction. An encounter with Jesus changes everything.

They were minding their sheep and minding their business when the angel suddenly appeared. In an instant, the darkness of night turned to brilliant light. The angel, coming from the presence of God, brought with him God’s glory and the place lit up! No wonder the shepherds were terrified. But the angel addressed their fears.

Without any pomp or circumstance, a royal baby was born. In the chaos of the Roman Empire, the Prince of Peace entered the human race. All heaven looked on as God wrote his story of love in living letters. Jesus became, in Paul’s words, “the image of the invisible God.”

In our busy lives, it’s hard for some people to make room for Jesus. They keep him at a distance. The things of life fill their hearts with temporary satisfaction. But sooner or later temporal things fail to satisfy. The heart of the person who makes room for Jesus is filled, changed, and transformed.

When God sent his Son into the world, he did not make it easy for the parents or the child. He stripped the Anointed One of every royal privilege. Already tagged as an illegitimate child, Jesus breathed his first breaths of air in a musty stable. Jesus learned obedience through suffering…all the way to the cross.

The Promise was not a politician who came to change the laws of the land. The Promise was not a philosopher who came to teach morality. The Promise did not come as a military leader ready to take troops into battle. The Promise did not appear as a religious leader paving a way for man to work his way to God. The Promise “became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”

Jesus was born to unmarried parents and carried that stigma with Him for the rest of His life. Jesus was stripped of all royal privileges, all the way to the cross. Nate Saint, who gave his life for Christ as a missionary, said it this way: “If we could only grasp the significance of the Incarnation, the word sacrifice would disappear from our vocabulary.”