It’s not uncommon, even for believers, to look at all the
evil and heartache in the world and think it even if they don’t speak it: Where
is God? Where is God in the wholesale
slaughter of Christians at the hands of ISIS terrorists? Where is God when the six-year old gets
cancer, when a tornado rips through a quiet little town, or where poor people
are starving and suffering from preventable diseases? The question is legit. So is the answer: God is with us. Of all of Jesus’ Christmas names, I think my
favorite is Immanuel—which means “God
with us.” Jesus left the peace, comfort,
and glory of heaven to make a beachhead in Bethlehem in humble conditions, the
child of peasants. He grew up in
obscurity and fulfilled His mission though a brutal death on the cross for the
forgiveness of our sins. And on the third
day after, He rose from the dead in power and glory. Where is God?
He is with us. The manger shows us that no situation is too
degrading, no experience too humbling what that God, in Christ, is with us
right in the midst of it. The cross shows us that no struggle is too
great, no injustice too unfair, no sin too heinous, no grief too deep, no
suffering too intense, not even death itself is so awful what that God faces it
with us in Christ. And the resurrection
assures us that because Jesus rose from the dead and lives today, He is able to
send us His Spirit so that He truly can be with
us and in us everywhere, all the
time, and in every situation. Here’s the
tenth of The Twelve Thoughts of Christmas:
Jesus is God – with – us: now and
forever.
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