My goal this year is to slow down and take a breath every now and then and renew and refocus my mind on what’s really important in this season: God and family, whether it is by blood or by the family we’ve built for ourselves through friends. So, for the month of December, this space will provide all of us with reminders of what’s really important this month.
This week’s theme is: Remember The One Who Came. With the frenzy of the holidays, we tend to forget the REASON why we’re celebrating this holiday to begin with. I do think that a greater appreciation for Christmas comes when we take the time to meditate “the reason for the season.” I stumbled upon a few powerful quotes that I think will help us refocus our attention on what matters the most this season: the fact that a little sinless babe – God in the flesh! – was born in a tiny corner of Bethlehem by a virgin mother, a plan orchestrated long ago by God in order to unite himself to humanity once again.
Here’s a side to the Christmas story that isn’t often told: Those soft little hands, fashioned by the Holy Spirit in Mary’s womb, were made so that nails might be driven through them. Those baby feet, pink and unable to walk, would one day walk up a dusty hill to be nailed to a cross. That sweet infant’s head with sparkling eyes and eager mouth was formed so that someday men might force a crown of thorns onto it. That tender body, warm and soft, wrapped in swaddling clothes, would one day be ripped open by a spear. Jesus was born to die.
John MacArthur
God With Us, Zondervan, 1989, p. 116.
If we could condense all the truths of Christmas into only three words, these would be the words: “God with us.” We tend to focus our attention at Christmas on the infancy of Christ. The greater truth of the holiday is His deity. More astonishing than a baby in the manger is the truth that this promised baby is the omnipotent Creator of the heavens and the earth!
John MacArthur
God With Us, Zondervan, 1989, p. 16.
The Christmas message is that there is hope for a ruined humanity – hope of pardon, hope of peace with God, hope of glory – because at the Father’s will Jesus became poor, and was born in a stable so that thirty years later He might hang on a cross.
J.I. Packer
The New Encyclopedia of Christian Quotations, ed. Mark Water, 2000, Baker, p. 159.
All we could ever imagine, could ever hope for, He is… He is the Prince of Peace whose first coming has already transformed society but whose second coming will forever establish justice and righteousness. All this, and infinitely more, alive in an impoverished baby in a barn. That is what Christmas means – to find in a place where you would least expect to find anything you want, everything you could ever want.
Michael Card
See you next week,
Matt
babybarnChristChristmascrossdeathGodholidayhopeJ.I. PackerJesusJohn MacArthurMichael CardPrince of Peace
Remember The One Who Came
December 8, 2011
Calvary
Comments Off on Remember The One Who Came
Matt
My goal this year is to slow down and take a breath every now and then and renew and refocus my mind on what’s really important in this season: God and family, whether it is by blood or by the family we’ve built for ourselves through friends. So, for the month of December, this space will provide all of us with reminders of what’s really important this month.
This week’s theme is: Remember The One Who Came. With the frenzy of the holidays, we tend to forget the REASON why we’re celebrating this holiday to begin with. I do think that a greater appreciation for Christmas comes when we take the time to meditate “the reason for the season.” I stumbled upon a few powerful quotes that I think will help us refocus our attention on what matters the most this season: the fact that a little sinless babe – God in the flesh! – was born in a tiny corner of Bethlehem by a virgin mother, a plan orchestrated long ago by God in order to unite himself to humanity once again.
Here’s a side to the Christmas story that isn’t often told: Those soft little hands, fashioned by the Holy Spirit in Mary’s womb, were made so that nails might be driven through them. Those baby feet, pink and unable to walk, would one day walk up a dusty hill to be nailed to a cross. That sweet infant’s head with sparkling eyes and eager mouth was formed so that someday men might force a crown of thorns onto it. That tender body, warm and soft, wrapped in swaddling clothes, would one day be ripped open by a spear. Jesus was born to die.
John MacArthur
God With Us, Zondervan, 1989, p. 116.
If we could condense all the truths of Christmas into only three words, these would be the words: “God with us.” We tend to focus our attention at Christmas on the infancy of Christ. The greater truth of the holiday is His deity. More astonishing than a baby in the manger is the truth that this promised baby is the omnipotent Creator of the heavens and the earth!
John MacArthur
God With Us, Zondervan, 1989, p. 16.
The Christmas message is that there is hope for a ruined humanity – hope of pardon, hope of peace with God, hope of glory – because at the Father’s will Jesus became poor, and was born in a stable so that thirty years later He might hang on a cross.
J.I. Packer
The New Encyclopedia of Christian Quotations, ed. Mark Water, 2000, Baker, p. 159.
All we could ever imagine, could ever hope for, He is… He is the Prince of Peace whose first coming has already transformed society but whose second coming will forever establish justice and righteousness. All this, and infinitely more, alive in an impoverished baby in a barn. That is what Christmas means – to find in a place where you would least expect to find anything you want, everything you could ever want.
Michael Card
See you next week,
Matt
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babybarnChristChristmascrossdeathGodholidayhopeJ.I. PackerJesusJohn MacArthurMichael CardPrince of Peace