“Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive
and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” Isaiah 7:14
Read Titus 3:3-8
It only took mere moments for me to fall asleep in the car, but when my eyes opened, we were at my grandparent’s house. I couldn’t wait to bound up the front porch steps to hug my grandparents, greet aunts and uncles and see the abundance of cousins that were waiting inside to catch up and play! One of the best things about Christmas is the extra opportunities it affords to gather with our families and friends. Despite the time, distance or busyness that separate us throughout the year, it’s such a joy to get everyone home for the holidays.
In the same way that time, distance and busyness separate us from our loved ones, sin separates us from God. Separation from God – being enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasure, living in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another – is a doomed and hopeless existence because it’s not what we were made for. We were made to be in fellowship with God the Father. This is why Jesus came. God sent his son to reconcile us to himself. The promised Immanuel ensured that God would be with us.
Both fully man and fully God, Jesus exemplified what it was to have God with us. Throughout his earthly existence, the fullness of God dwelled within him as he ministered to the lost and hurting and proclaimed the goodness and power and holiness of God.
God the father created us to be in fellowship with him but sin broke that relationship and separated us from Him.
God the Son reconciled us to the Father through the forgiveness of sin he claimed for our sakes on the cross.
God the Holy Spirit now dwells within us to guide, comfort and teach us as we follow hard after Jesus.
On this Christmas and every day, we can rest assured that God is most certainly with us.
Family Activity: Talk about your favorite family traditions. What do you do that you love? What did you use to do that you’d like to bring back? What do you wish to start new?