Sin and Christmas

At first glance you might wonder why I have these two in the same sentence. Read on and you will see.

We like most of you celebrated Christmas this year and we were able to have our whole family here at one time. It was an incredible time of fun and fellowship as well as time of worship and prayer and recounting the goodness of God in our lives.

As we were opening gifts our grandkids, which are the best in the world, showed some interesting behavior. Emery Kate got a toy laptop and her cousin (the two of them are normally joined at the hip) said to her something like this:"Emery Kate, this is ours", to which she replied "No Ney Ney (a.k.a. Duncan) this is not ours. This is mine." Then little Mollie got a toy kitchen and Campbell goes over to her and takes it and pushes her out of the way.

These are just two examples of 2 year olds being 2 year olds, and we laughed as we tried to encourage sharing. But as I thought about it
I realized that this was precisely why there is Christmas. We all have the same nature as these little kids, though now we hide it in more sophisticated and socially acceptable ways.

These kids were not taught this. They all come from spectacular families who teach Biblical values in the home. No, this is a part of the sin nature that all of us have. This sin is what separates us from God and there is no way we can overcome it on our own. So God in His great mercy, sent His son, Jesus, to come to earth as a baby, fully human and yet fully God. He eventually dies on a cross with His shed blood covering our sins so that once again we can have relationship with God.






So this is why He came. This is why there is a Christmas. So as you celebrate Christmas this year and in years to come, remember that it is so much more than just a baby in a manger. He was born to die - for you and for me. The cross and the Christmas tree go hand in hand.

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