Carol McClain

The Wonder of Christmas: God Left Heaven Behind

By Carol McClain:   @carol_mcclain

In 1937 King Edward VIII of England gave up his title and power and glory for love.

He loved a sinner–a divorced American still married but in the process of divorce. Wallis Simpson sympathized with the Nazis. Edward loved her, so he sacrificed everything for her.

For an American, this love which created a constitutional crisis in England, speaks of a fairy tale perfection. We forget the flaws of the characters and moon over their mutual adoration..

We Christians, though, have experienced even a greater love than this imperfect union.

Isaiah 9: 6 says, to us a Son was given…his name…the mighty God.

The story, though, gets better. In Philippians 2: 6-9 we read, “Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”

 

This is the WONDER of Christmas

1. The God of all creation left His kingdom for us. I cannot fathom the sacrifice in that alone. Jesus loved us, worse sinners than Wallis Simpson. He gave up all for us alone. I think this sacrifice, more than the cross, shows the length God would go for us. I give a monthly stipend to a young girl in Uganda. I’m not going to go there, sell all I own, and live like her. It’s not in me. Yet, a sacrifice like this would be minuscule compared  to Christ’s.
2. God humbled himself, even to the death of the cross.  He lived his life in poverty. He lived it for everyone else, laying aside His own needs and desires. Finally, he allowed himself to be brutally murdered. Jesus did all this because He loves us.

How can we not marvel at the miracle of Christmas?