Everything Becomes Nothing

How many kings stepped down from their thrones?

How many lords have abandoned their homes?

How many greats have become the least for me?

And how many gods have poured out their hearts

To romance a world that is torn all apart

How many fathers gave up their sons for me?

This Christmas morning as the pinks meet the blues across the entire expanse of the endless sky in a sunrise worthy of the birth of a King...I'm reminded of how incomprehensible this moment we celebrate really is. 

We know the child was born in a stable, laid in a manger and wrapped in swaddling cloths. We know it so well we don't even see it. Nativities are so common they have to outdo each other to even be noticed. The Christ child has joined Frosty, Rudolph and Santa irreverently across suburban lawns in the form of inflatables.   

But as we see this scene and see right through it in its familiarity, have we grasped its grandeur? Has it lost its awe? Can we fathom its greatness?

God created the ENTIRE UNIVERSE. He spoke it into being. The galaxies are His.

He laid the foundations of the earth.

He keeps the sea inside its boundaries, saying, 'This far and no farther will you come, here your proud waves must stop!’

He creates a channel for the torrents of rain.

He lays out the path for the lightning.

He directs the movement of the stars— binding the cluster of the Pleiades or loosening the cords of Orion.

He directs the sequence of the seasons...

(from Job 38)

But then, because it wasn't enough, because all He wanted was a right relationship with you, and with me, not all the cattle on a thousand hills, or all the stars in skies, He became the humblest of beings--a human child. Likely the newborn most helpless of all species, He grew in the womb of a virgin girl. He was entrusted to a pair of unwed teenagers. He shrunk from immeasurably huge to tiny. 

We adore new babies. We visit them in their delivery rooms. We are in awe of the miracle of birth and life.

But this is no ordinary 6 pound 8 ounce baby boy. This baby boy won the war. This baby boy gave everything, literally EVERYTHING up for you. He was limitless, but He became helpless for you.

I can't do this idea justice, but I couldn't keep it to myself. Today, I dare you to try to wrap your head around how the God of all creation became flesh. And then I dare you to remember why. Jesus was born today because God loves you that much...

"Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!" 

-2 Corinthians 9:15