Humble Pie For Christmas
It’s the last day of the year. The family has all gone home. The decorations are put away for another year. All that’s left is to vacuum the pine needles. I was reliving the week in my mind when an idle thought intruded. I wondered how many Christmas dinner menus had included humble pie for dessert. My conclusion? Not many.
But then I began to expand my thinking about humble pie. Really, when we get right down to it, isn’t Christmas all about humble pie? Think about it. The God of creation, in His splendor and glory, humbly gave it all up and, beginning with nine months in a womb and ending in His death (Phil. 2:8), He gave us the greatest Christmas present we could imagine.
Those of us who know Jesus Christ
as our Savior and Lord know about His appearance as a baby in a manger, some of His boyhood, and then His life from about 30 to three years later. We know about His miracles, His disciples, His agony in Gethsemane leading up to His crucifixion, His death on the cross, His burial, and His resurrection 3 days later. And we know about His ascension back into heaven from whence He had come.
But how much do we know about what He gave up for our sakes when He left heaven to begin His earthly stay? We only have minimal glances of the glory of heaven and Christ’s pre-incarnation glory. I think of some of the things Ezekiel tried to describe (Ezek. 1). And what about the chariot of fire and horses of fire that took Elijah away while Elisha was watching (2 Kings 2:11). Not something we see every day.
Did you ever ask yourself, “Why?”
What would move God to do something so outrageous as this? In addition to the glory that we can’t comprehend, God’s love is also far beyond our grasp. So He had to give us the example of Christ’s life for us to begin to understand the magnitude of His gift of salvation. Let’s stop thinking of ourselves for a minute and dwell on God’s love for us that caused Him to do what He did so we could be part of Him forever…and it’s all free to us. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.