It is hard to fathom how God fashioned the life of Christ to intersect with our lives and bring us into His divine Kingdom…by introducing Him as a baby! You would think the savior of the world, the King of Kings, would have the greatest introduction ever given. Yet He came in the most lowly fashion, lived a simple life, served in obscurity…then died!
It all goes against common perception and understanding. It goes against how we all think or perceive things should happen. It goes against the grain of culture and our experience as human beings. We have always known kings to travel in grandeur, majesty, pomp, and circumstance. Yet God chose to do it different because His power is not defined by human understanding or perception.
Yet I am grateful that God’s ways rarely match our perception. If it did, we would become the best students of religion and master what we perceive to please Him, put it in a box, and put it away. We’re creatures of habit and the faster we can master something, the easier our lives become. God never wants us to become masters of religion. He wants us to become masters of relationship with Him.
See, religion focuses on teaching us what to do in order to please God, be right with Him, and not worry about our future with Him. Relationship teaches us how to live everyday as though it is yet another opportunity to grow in our knowledge and closeness to another.
In our human relationships, it is dangerous to assume that people and their habits remain the same. Our tendency is to study people, master their likes and dislikes, box them up, and never have to invest time and energy again. Real relationships are about daily pursuits to know and master one another. Like they say about marriage, it is the one school that never ends, always studying your spouse…how awesome is this? Keeps it exciting!
Therefore, “the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us…” God surprised us back then when He supernaturally introduced His only Son through a woman, had Him live among those we would consider the least of us, made Him less than most, then allowed us to kill Him, only to raise Him up and exalt Him back to His rightful place. He surprised us.
He is still surprising us so we don’t become religious robots. Let’s build a relationship with Him daily and avoid boxing Him up into our favorite religious boxes, having figured out everything there is to know about Him. The surprises, twists and turns we face in the Lord keep the journey fun and interesting.
Enjoy your family this Christmas while we’re here, even as we look forward to His return!
Nelson Masinde 