Jesus: The Sublime Expression of God's Love

The Christmas Day Message of Samuel Godfrey George, 2010:

What God created He could destroy. God created Man. Man disappointed God. God could have destroyed Man. Yet God did not destroy Man. He allowed him to live. Man lived, yet was separated from God because of his sins. Man was destined to go to hell. But God did not want Man to go to hell. Therefore God decided to change the fate of Man. And Man's fate could change only when he atoned for his sins. The only atonement that could meet God's requirement was the death of a righteous man. But a righteous man could not be found on earth. So God had to send that righteous man from heaven. His name was Jesus. He was the Son of God and He became human in order to be the atonement for the sins of Man. The Son of God is as much God as are the Father and the Holy Spirit, the other members of the Trinity. Thus God came down to earth to be born as the sinless man who would atone for Man's sins. He did this because He loved Man and did not want to see Him destroyed. Thus Jesus Christ is the expression of God's love.

Jesus, the human form of God, was born in Bethlehem in a humble manner. He was born in a stable for no other place could be found. The first people who heard about His birth were poor shepherds. Joseph, the human adoptive father of Jesus was a carpenter, and he and his wife Mary were ordinary people. Jesus grew up to be a carpenter like Joseph. The birth and the life of Christ highlight God's preference for the poor and the humble. God cares for the poor and has declared that the first will be the last, and the last will be the first in the Kingdom of God. Those who intend to follow God must therefore desire to be humble and poor. They must willingly be servants, for Christ has declared that the greatest in the Kingdom of God will be the servant of all.

Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Christ. And Christ is the sublime expression of God's love. Let those who celebrate Christmas bear this in mind. This Christmas let the focus be on the manner in which Jesus came into this world. Let His humble beginning in a stable in Bethlehem inspire us to prefer the humble and shun the lofty. Let us aspire to be ministers of God ministering to the people of God just as Jesus came into the world to minister to all of us. The birth of Christ should be celebrated as God's splendid expression of love for a people who do not deserve it.