God chose to change everything through a baby.
A humble symbol of innocence, dependence and fragility. From heavenly throne of lightning and thunder and power to earthly manger of wood and dirt and hay. God Himself, the One on whom everything depends, now placing Himself in the hands of mankind, dependent on them to be warmed, fed, and cared for.
It doesn't seem right, at least from a flawed human perspective, that God, in all His power and authority would come in such a humble form. Why not show how strong and dangerous you are so that everyone on earth will know you're not to be trifled with, come in like a consuming fire, strike down everyone who stands in your way and invoke fear in the hearts of men so they no longer sin?
The problem with this model is that it's a lot like disciplining a leper because he has leprosy and expecting him to clean himself... when... he can't. Or yelling at a handicapped individual in a wheelchair and expecting him to walk. He can't. No matter how deeply the handicapped individual may WANT to walk, no matter how earnestly he TRIES to walk, no matter how strong his own WILL is to walk, he physically cannot do it. And thus, he has no hope of ever pleasing his "master", or in this case, his "dictator."
He needs a cure, not an unreasonable drill sergeant.
You see, sin is a disease we all inherit upon birth. We can't heal ourselves of it, no matter how hard we TRY, we could never EARN immunity from our disease. We need the medicine, the remedy, the cure. God offers us this cure in the form of a free gift (Romans 6:23, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ).
God stands before all of us and with his hand outstretched towards us, offers to us the vile of righteousness, the cure for sin, and the RX label says, "Jesus Christ."
But as with any "gift", a gift is not received until the giftee chooses to take what the gifter is giving to them. God will never force his cure into our hand, or worse, force us to drink of it against our will. He wants us to let go, accept we cannot cure ourselves, and receive willingly the gift He is handing to us. It is with this heart, a heart that understands DEPENDENCE on something else other than ourselves, that we accept His righteousness and enter into a relationship with Him.
God, through the form of a baby, showed humility and dependence. Are YOU ready to give it a try?
Who have YOU been depending on?
Ben
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