MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I hope you are enjoying this festive season of love and good cheer. I realize that many people are hurting even in the midst of the holidays. There is so much pain, heartache, sin, and sickness in this world. That is why God sent His beloved Son, Jesus, to this world. To save us all from Satan’s power. Oh, what tidings of comfort and joy!

I have had the great pleasure of taking my three-year-old goddaughter out the last three nights in a row to look at Christmas lights and decorations in various neighborhoods near our home. It is such a delight to see Christmas through the eyes of a child! As we were driving from one place to another, she was telling me–in the way only a three-year-old can–what she knew of the story of the first Christmas. When she got to the part about the baby Jesus being in a manger, with no crib or blankets, not even a “binky” (pacifier), I added that He didn’t have jammies or diapers either. She looked at me with wide eyes and asked, “Then where did Jesus poop?”

That cracked me up! I told her that Mary put cloths around Him, and she must have had to change those cloths a lot. No disposable Pampers for her!

My husband, who is not a Christian, commented that it didn’t seem like God should’ve had to poop in the first place. “Ah, I said, “but that’s the whole point. Jesus was God, but He was also fully man.” The Creator of the universe humbled Himself to the point of putting His Spirit, His essence, into a baby, right from conception. He experienced life as we know it. He knew hunger and thirst. He got cold and tired. As a baby, He relied on his mother to take care of Him, feed Him, keep Him safe and warm … and yep, even to change his poopy “diapers.”

He did all that because He loves us so much. And because He wants us to know that He understands our joys and our sorrows, our heartaches and our celebrations. Just as He put His Spirit into the baby Jesus, He longs to put His Spirit into us, to take residence in our hearts. We are never alone when we have God. And in spite of all the turmoil in the world around us, we need not fear. As the angel said to the shepherds near Bethlehem that world-changing night (Luke 2:10-14 NKJV):

“Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: