December 22: Christ has come!

Many of us have heard the Christmas story so often that we can nearly recite it by heart without even attempting to memorize it.

Marcus Buckley is senior pastor of Terry Parker Baptist Church in Jacksonville.

There can be a problem with such comfortable familiarity, however. Those things with which we are most comfortable often are taken most for granted. However, those that are closest to us are worth our best, not our worst.

It would be difficult, although perhaps not impossible, to find a regular churchgoer who does not know at least the general details of the birth of Christ. But this begs the question: so what? Specifically, I mean to ask: "What difference has the knowledge of the miraculous birth of Jesus Christ-God in the flesh, Savior of all who trust in Him-made in your life?" Are you any different now than you were before you knew of a Savior who was born in a Bethlehem stable, who would grow to adulthood and be murdered for your sin and mine, and then gloriously arise from the grave?

Jesus Himself told Nicodemus, one of the Pharisees, that "unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3). That born-again experience, by its very definition, changed us in a supernatural way by the supernatural power of God. If we have been changed on the inside, it should be manifested on the outside. The person whose life has been touched by the power of God is given a desire to know God and to experience Him fully.

In Luke 2:21-38 we see the culmination of one man's hopes and dreams: seeing the Messiah born. Luke tells us "there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to carry out for Him the custom of the Law, he took Him into his arms, and blessed God, and said, 'Now Lord, You are releasing Your bond-servant to depart in peace, according to Your word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation, which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light of revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel'" (Luke 2:25-32).

Simeon had a true relationship with God that resulted from the change wrought in his heart by God and His sovereign grace. God blessed Simeon's obedience and dependence upon Him by allowing Him to see what all Israel had been waiting for-the Promised One, the Messiah. This brings us back to my earlier question: so what? What does this have to do with the everyday life of the Christian, much less Christmas? The answer is everything. If we have truly been changed by the message of Christmas-that God became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14), and that He died on a cross at the hill called Calvary in order to pay for our sins and purchase our place in heaven-then we will live our lives in such a way as to bring glory to Him, and to help others to know Him. When we truly see His salvation, we truly are changed.

Christmas is directly connected to Easter. The birth of Christ was accomplished so that the death of Christ might likewise be fulfilled. When we see Christmas in light of the Cross, our surrender and commitment to Christ must rise above all else.

The gifts we will exchange are symbolic of the gift God gave to the world: salvation through Christ. Our response can be no less than expressed in the words of a hymn:

"Love so amazing, so divine,

Demands my soul, my life, my all."