BRANCHES December 2015

anches
SOUTHWOOD
BecameFlesh
CHRISTMAS DEVOTIONALS ABOUT THE INCARNATION by Will Spink
God With Us: Rejoice!
I love hearing Christmas music… even in November… or
June! The music, the lights, the decorations, the parties all
are an attempt at making the Christmas season “the most
wonderful time of the year,” “the hap-, happiest season
of all.” And people will rightly point out that much of that
happiness comes from manufactured, circumstantial positive
feelings. But what all of that is meant to point to, I believe, is
an appropriate response to the wonder of Christmas: true joy!
That emotion is at the heart of the Christmas carol, “O
Come, O Come, Emmanuel.” The chorus of that song says,
“Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!”
Why rejoice? What’s the basis of the joy? God is coming to
you. He’s coming to a people in exile, undeserving of his
presence or his blessing, distant from him because of their
sin, wondering if there is any hope or future for them. And the
answer is that although they have wandered from God, God
is coming to be with them.
Amazing, isn’t it? God with people who have run from him in
their sin. This means he’s coming with forgiveness, to fix the
brokenness of the relationship he created his people to have
with him. In the words of the song, he’s coming to “ransom
captive Israel,” he’s coming to “make safe the way that
leads on high and close the path to misery,” he’s coming to
“give them victory o’er the grave.” Rejoice! Rejoice! Those
are reasons not merely for circumstantial happiness but for
abiding joy. Because God is with us, our joy will never end.
In His Steps
I love the many movies where someone has to travel great
distances and overcome many obstacles to make it to his loved
ones on Christmas morning. Has someone ever journeyed hours
to be with you? Doesn’t that communicate something about their
love and commitment to you?
Now consider the great distance Jesus travelled in the incarnation,
the first Christmas journey. In the words of the great Christmas
hymn, he went from thrones to a manger, sapphire-paved courts
to stable floor. He journeyed from glory and comfort into a world
of humility and pain. He refused to let anything keep him from us
as he literally moved heaven and earth to enter our mess, to take
on our infirmities, to be familiar with our suffering.
If we are to love others as Jesus has loved us (and we are), if we are
to walk in his steps (and we are), then our footsteps will carry us
toward pain, brokenness, and suffering. There is plenty of mess,
sin, and hurt in our world these days, but I find that I am usually
seeking to move away from it rather than toward it. Christmas
reminds me this is not the path my Savior chose. The footprints
of the incarnation are travelling a long way in the other direction.
Like a firefighter rushing into a burning building while others
are rushing out, Jesus calls us to enter into the mess of others’
lives even at potentially great cost to ourselves. Recall that it
cost him his very life. So in calling us to live “incarnationally” and
“sacrificially,” he doesn’t call us to go anywhere that we can’t
already see his footprints.
RESPOND:
Have you stopped to appreciate the joy the
incarnation brings to you? Consider your own peril
apart from Jesus, the hopelessness you were facing,
and the hope he has brought you. Truly rejoice in the
true joy of Christmas!
RESPOND:
Where would “incarnational” living take you? Whose pain
or mess have you been avoiding that Jesus would call you
to engage? Pray that God would give you the courage
and perseverance to walk a long journey in the direction
of your Savior’s footprints.