Marvel

Oh sing to the LORD a new song,

for he has done marvelous things!

His right hand and his holy arm

have worked salvation for him.

 The LORD has made known his salvation;

he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations.

He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness

to the house of Israel.

All the ends of the earth have seen

the salvation of our God.

Psalm 98:1-3

Christmas is coming!  And with it comes a whirlwind of feelings and memories.  Some years it’s feelings of excitement and celebration as we pull out the decorations and make our homes into winter wonderlands.  Some years it’s feelings of pain and loss as we prepare to set one less place at the table and have one less person to shop for.  Some years it’s feelings of fear and anxiety as we don’t know how we’ll be able to afford gifts for our children and family members or provide the special meal everyone’s grown accustomed to.  Whatever your situation may be this year, will you take the time to marvel at what God has done?  Scripture is full of praise for God’s MARVELOUS works.  When Jesus came to earth, those who heard him speak and saw his miraculous works MARVELED at what he said and did.  To marvel is “to be filled with wonder, admiration, or astonishment, as at something surprising or extraordinary”.  Have you gotten so caught up in the gifts and the decorations and the food and the events that surround Christmas, that you’ve forgotten the wonder of it all?  When is the last time you stopped to consider the fact that the holy, infinite God of the universe took on human flesh and chose to walk among us?  When we were hopeless and cloaked in sin and shame, God came to save us!  In a lowly stable, to simple parents, when few expected it, our salvation was born. 

Let us ponder the night that the creator of the stars slept in a fragile body beneath them.  Let us marvel at the wonderful implications of the birth of Jesus.  How many can you count?  

Here are a few to think of today:

• The birth of Jesus fulfilled all of God’s promises to send a Messiah, a rescuer.   
• We now have a brother and mediator that can sympathize with all of our weaknesses. 
• Our God has humbled himself to come and dwell among his creation, a fact that separates Christianity from all other world religions. 
• Jesus had to learn to walk, read, work alongside his earthly father Joseph.  Jesus can relate to all of the struggles and common, mundane tasks we have to do in our daily lives.
• Jesus is the perfect representation of God the Father, we can know God in a way we never could before by looking to the life, the words, and the miracles of Jesus.
• Jesus came to make all things new.  The stress, exhaustion, worry, and strife you may face today will one day be gone when Jesus comes back to put Satan and sin to death once and for all. 

When was the last time you were astonished by the birth of Jesus?  It is so much more than gifts, than food, than decorations.  I hope you will join me this advent and take some time each day to consider the significance of the extraordinary night heaven came to earth.