The Gift of His Presence

THE GIFT OF HIS PRESENCE

 

Joe Stowell posted an article on Our Daily Bread (ODB) on Dec 26, 2014 called "In The Neighborhood" that caught my attention. He told the story of a well known football player who had recently moved into their neighborhood, and of course everyone, especially the football fans, expected to get to know him personally. But they were very disappointed when it proved he was too busy to have any time to become involved in any local activities. As a direct contrast to this situation, consider the case of Jesus who not only moved into our neighborhood, but "His Presence" became available to anyone who believed in Him and accepted Him as Lord and Savior. Read (John 1:1-14), and focus on verse 14 for a few minutes in a modern translation like the NLT. I like the words they chose "So the Word became human and made His home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen His glory, the glory of the Father's one and only Son". I consider this to be the greatest miracle possible when God the Son left His place in the Trinity (Father, Son, and Spirit) and came down to earth to be "Incarnated" into a tiny baby in the womb of Mary of Nazareth, who happened to be the "virgin" that the OT prophet Isaiah mentioned in (Is 7:14). This miracle of the "Virgin Birth" was a "one time only" event that allowed Jesus to escape the inherited sin of our original parents Adam and Eve (Gen 3:1-7) and be totally sinless, whereas all the rest of us are sinners because of Adam's sin plus our own sinful actions.

 

Just imagine; Jesus the sinless Son of God--the Lord of our universe, and the Creator of all things--chose to dwell among us! This is the Miracle that we celebrate every year at Christmas. Not only did He choose to live with us, but He promised an "Intimate Relationship" with all those who choose to accept Him as Lord and Savior. Then our heavenly Father "adopts" us into His Eternal family, and gives us the Holy Spirit to abide with us forever! See (2 Cor 5:17-21) for the details of what all this entails for those who put their faith and trust in Him, and what He accomplished for us on the cross as our

"Redeemer". Joe closed his article with "When you think of the Babe in the manger, remember how special it is that He not only moved into our "neighborhood", but that He did it so He could bless us with the intimate privileges of His residence within us". Oh how we need to thank God for His wonderful gift to us that we celebrate each year on Christ's birthday!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                   29/12/14