Sharing life, joining faith, walking together, living in love: these are some of what make ‘being the church’ so wonderful. Joy, hope, peace, and authentic life-giving relationships are made possible because of Christmas! Salvation is made possible because of Christmas!
There’s a familiar story that preachers and Bible teachers have used many times, and one of my favorite authors Max Lucado has recorded it. Though it is a powerful story that illustrates God’s love it is not a complete picture.
It’s the story of the man who was an engineer operating a drawbridge over a mighty river. He took his son to work one day. The boy was fascinated by the control panel of levers and switches and gears that either lifted the bridge for the river traffic or closed the bridge for the coming train. The young boy asked question after question of his father about his dad’s job. It was not until the span had opened to allow the passage of a ship that the father noticed that the questions had stopped and that his son had wandered out of the room. Looking out the window of his cabin, he saw the young boy climbing on the teeth of the gears. As he hurried toward the machinery to get his son, he heard the whistle of an approaching train. His heart began to beat faster. If he closed the bridge, there would be no time to get his son. He had to make a terrible choice. Either his son would be killed or a trainload of innocent passengers would be killed. A horrible dilemma mandated a horrible decision. The engineer knew what he had to do. He reached for the lever.
Max reminds us that the story does a good job of describing the sacrifice of Christ. “…it’s true that God could not save man without killing his son. The heart of God the Father DID twist in grief as he slammed the gears of death down on Jesus. And it’s sad, yet true that the innocent have whizzed by the scene of the crime oblivious to the sacrifice that has just saved them from certain death… .”
But Christmas reminds us of perhaps the most important element missing from this story. The father in the story in no way desired nor planned for his son to experience such a horrible death. Yet our heavenly Father sent His son for just that purpose. In order to make His love clear to you and to me, he “…intentionally planted the tree from which His cross would be carved,” as Max writes. “…he willingly placed the iron ore in the heart of the earth from which the nails would be cast…he willingly placed his Judas in the womb of a woman…he was the One who set in motion the political machinery that would send Pilate to Jerusalem.”
I purpose to realize this Christmas once again that He came with you and with me on His mind; He came knowing that His plan was to die for us; giving His life to demonstrate that we matter incredibly to Him. What extent God has gone to love us! He doesn’t give up on us, even when we’ve given up on ourselves. You are loved. You are cared for. That’s the message of Christmas.
Merry Christmas to our Lakeside Family. 