A Blog for the Church

Before you Read: There is a song from Casting Crowns’ Christmas album that speaks of God being with us, for us, and in us – it is called “God Is With Us.”  Click here to listen to it once for free and then come back and keep reading.

Christmas is the celebration of the birth of one specific boy.  To many, his birth was nothing special.  In fact, it was the opposite of special – he came into this world under ordinary circumstances.  Rejected from an inn, his parents were forced to deliver him amidst farm animals before laying him in a cow trough to sleep.  And, yet, his was the most special birth that has ever taken place.

God With Us

That’s what Immanuel means, God with us.  And he was with us…in ways that we never anticipated.  It would have sufficed for us had God come down and rescued us from our human condition without entering our state himself.  He could have chosen to be with us just by standing by our side.  But he didn’t.  He did far more than we ever expected: he became one of us – in every possible way.   He hungered.  He cried.  He skinned his knee.  He got tired.  He felt fear.  He sweated.  He bathed.  He got sick.

He died.

But he has not left us.  He is still with us…here, now.  I know we may not feel like it.  But it’s true.  He is here with us.  He experiences our pain, our fear.  He knows what frustrates us as well as what encourages us.  Despite whatever else is happening and whoever else has left us, he has not.  He will not.

God For Us

It seems unusual to some of us that God would be for us.  What is there to be for?  We are sinners, the lot of us, through and through.  We are exceedingly selfish and profoundly arrogant.  We are greedy beyond measure.  We lust after everything we do not have, both people and possessions, and take for granted all that has been given us.  And God is for us?

Why?

Because of his unending, no-holds-barred, indiscriminate love.  It is a paradoxical kind of love, really.  There is no reason he should love us.  He is not compelled by any outside forces or even overwhelming emotion.  He chooses to love us.  And so powerful is this choice that it caused Him to willingly send His son, the Word, God himself, to the womb of a lowly woman.   And so deep is this love that it deliberately died a horrific and torturous death.

For us.

God In Us

As a result of his paradoxical love-choice, we now have a unique opportunity.  It is an opportunity that is universal in its offer – anyone can take part and everyone is invited to do so.   It is the opportunity for God’s being with us and for us to now being in us.  This is the culmination of his birth, life, death and resurrection…that we should now invite him in and make him who he already is: Lord.

We invite Him?

It is unusual that the one who sustains us and gives us breath should leave it up to us to make the decision.  In itself, this is a profound act of love and none of us really understand it.  Yet, despite our lack of understanding the choice is still ours and he will not force us.

For those of us who invite him in, a transformation takes place.  We experience a change of natures.  We are no longer orphans, we become sons and daughters.  And though we may still act like orphans and do orphan-like things, that is not who we are.

Because God is in us.

So what?

Belief is a funny thing.  We often reduce it to intellectual assent or emotion.  But neither is true, at least, not completely.  The Biblical model for belief is action.  If we say we believe God is with us, for us, and in us, but live as if it is not true, we are liars.  In other words, intellectual assent and emotion merely make belief easier, but we actually can believe something without being convinced in our minds or hearts at all.

We do it all the time.  In health, marriage, work, friendships, parenting, etc.

So here is where the rubber meets the road.  Do you actually believe in Christmas – that God is with, for, and in you – or are you just convinced?

Participate: If a stranger were to observe your life for the next three days, what would they conclude about your beliefs?  Do those match up with what you say you believe?

Engage: Sit down this week and read the Gospel of Mark looking for times when Jesus encountered those who were convinced but did not believe.  How did the two look different?  Do you identify with any of the convinced but unbelieving people in the Bible?  How did Jesus respond to them/you?

Own: Take some time to write down what you are convinced of in regards to your faith, family, and friendships and then compare that to how you live – if you discover unbelief, identify what the next action step would be to change it into belief.

Oh, and don’t forget: God with us, for us, and in us means that there is grace and help.  If there are discrepancies between what you are convinced of and what you really believe, repeat the prayer of a father with a demon-possessed son (Mark 9:24b):

“…help me overcome my unbelief!”