The Ultimate Gift

“Come, let us return to the LORD; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him. Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.”
(Hosea 6:1-3 ESV) 

In chapter 6, Hosea tells us we are ready to “return” to the LORD; yet, as we prepare for Christmas this week, it is the LORD who is coming to us. Just as the LORD had planned even before creation, God sent Jesus to us to mend every tear and right every wrong. This was expressed like nothing else when God’s only begotten Son died for us all on the Cross.

As Hosea goes on to say, even God fully remedying every injustice done to us over the course of our entire lives is just a step along the way to His ultimate gift for us, and that is Jesus Christ’s resurrection. This holy gift is far beyond what we can comprehend, being caught up in our everyday worries and earthly preoccupations.

I tend to grow closest to Jesus when I constantly remind myself that His entire story, spanning from before creation till after the end of time, is running on a constant cycle. We may read Scripture and see the story at a macrocosmic level. But every time Jesus saves you from temptation, or God spares you from intense pain, or the Holy Spirit guides you in prayer—you can rest assured you have become a part of that cycle, along with every other one of your brothers and sisters in Christ.

• What themes do you see come up regularly at this time of year? How is God asking you to contemplate weaving those experiences with the beginning of Jesus’ earthly life?

Nativity Building: Place Mary and Joseph in the stable. The time has almost arrived for Baby Jesus to be born!