Christmas: The Story of a Father’s Love

Scripture: Luke 2:1-7

All Parents Remember

I remember the day my daughter was born. The air conditioning in our little trailer was broken. Our kind neighbors let us sleep in their very own beds so that I could rest for the scheduled labor and delivery. It was July and ugly hot. When my daughter arrived, she was big and beautiful and a peace followed.

I remember when my son came, just two days after Christmas, as my husband cracked jokes with my doctors. He was sweet and dimpled, and again, a peace followed. And our last daughter! She came too and I wondered how love could be multiplied so many times without losing any of its fervor.

I wasn’t part of our beautiful foster daughter’s birth, but I still vividly remember when she came to us and all the details of that afternoon.

All parents remember.

Each Christmas we have an opportunity to remember the birth of One even more precious than our own children.

We mirror the thoughts of God Himself remembering with tenderness His firstborn’s birth, with all the anticipation, the uniqueness that comes with a baby arriving, and the peace that follows.

So let’s sit at His feet while He tells us the lovely memory of His firstborn Son’s birth.

Abba Father remembers the birth of His firstborn.

Scripture: Hebrews 1:3-5

Labor and Delivery

Throughout the Bible, we have known God as many things: Creator, Almighty, I AM, the Ancient of Days, All Knowing, Holy, Just, and so many other significant names. He is indeed all those things, but the birth of Jesus, God’s Son, His firstborn, gives us a personal, intimate look at our great God.

Jesus’ birth is where God the Father sits back and tells the story with all the feels, all the senses alive.

No woman thinks about Mary traveling to Bethlehem while she is pregnant, and going into labor without cringing, and in a barn no less. Rags covered this brand-new, beautiful little body. It is surreal and yet so real. We can almost smell the hay, hear the friendly baying of animals, and maybe even remember the tenderness of holding a baby, screaming, sticky, and unbelievably precious.

God treasures every moment as only a Father can. His heart is brimming with pure joy and pleasure at the squealing little red thing that would bring many sons to glory.

He didn’t speed ahead to the cross and the sorrow which was sure to come. He takes His time to call His son precious, to smile on Jesus. God takes His time to rejoice, to sing, to revel in the moment of glory, calling in all the angels to get the party started.

On Christmas, God was a Daddy, pleased in every way!

Scriptures: Romans 8:37-38, Matthew 1:1-17, Luke 3:23-38

All Those Family Skeletons and Jesus

It is so tempting when we read the Bible to skip over the lengthy genealogies. So many weird and unpronounceable names fill pages and pages!

The Bible tells us that Joseph was a just man and that Mary was favored, but the lineage that bore them was indeed speckled with wayward behavior. That means Jesus’ lineage had plenty of colorful characters.

The most famous is David. His adulterous affair led him to murder.

Lot’s incestuous family also made it into Jesus’ gene pool.

Thankfully, God didn’t describe all the thoughts of many of the ancestors of Jesus, or we might just close that quaint, little Christmas story, citing it as far too racy to read while rocking our little ones to sleep.

But God doesn’t hide or gloss over many relatives we would probably want to forget. Why is the speckled nature of Jesus’ ancestry important to note in the Bible?

Somehow, Jesus’ ancestry didn’t soil Him. The exact opposite is true. His own presence changed everything, the entire course of the world. He changes us, too!

Unexpectedly, holidays like Christmas can bring a deep sadness with all those glittering lights, pumpkin spices, and unfulfilled, fairy tale Christmases. If you are keenly aware of your own brokenness, these genealogies are for you! Not one ugly piece of history can keep you from our loving Abba Father. Nothing that you have done, and nothing that has been done to you can keep you from climbing on His large and loving lap.

Let Him tell you of your own genealogy with all the ugliness.

Let Him tell you the story of His Firstborn Son, who redeems everything in your genealogy. Because Jesus came, you can face all those sordid characters in your past, even if, and especially if, you are one of them!

Scripture: Luke 1:46-55

Mary Sings!

The little boy, grinning ear to ear, announces, “Mommy has a baby in her tummy!” Grandma smiles and squeals in delight. Grandpa clears his throat and covers his excitement just a little, but he is also brimming with joy.

Similarly, God the Father announced that Mary had a baby in her tummy, and His announcement was going to rock Joseph and Mary’s world. In a dream, He sent an angel to Joseph. The angel Gabriel came to Mary and calmed her troubled heart.

Mary and Joseph needed God’s tenderness in these explanations. God sent angels directly from His presence to communicate the best news ever. Joseph and Mary began their marriage with an unprecedented confirmation that God was doing something remarkable in and through them.

When announcing the birth of His Son, God sent angels. But before those angels sang, Mary got to sing! She sang a very old song learned in her childhood. She sang the song Hannah sang when God answered her prayer for a son. “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” We only have Mary’s song printed one time, but perhaps she sang it for days, rejoicing in the Lord for what He was doing! She must have hummed that song incessantly throughout her pregnancy.

No matter what unexpected announcements come to you today, you can rejoice that God is in them and He is at work.

Scriptures: Mark 2:10, Romans 8:22

Abba’s Party

Babies are born every day, but when a baby is born in your family, time seems to stand still. No matter the chaos around us, it seems that , nothing can disrupt the peace of a newborn baby, or the joy. Our Abba Father expressed His joy in several ways. It’s as if the entire universe just had to glitter and smile at the birth of Jesus.

First, God hung a star in the sky. The whole world saw the star, and those listening and waiting for the promised Messiah must have noted the unusual event. Of course, it served a purpose as the wise men followed it, but if the goal was to provide the best disco ball ever, He nailed it!

Then the angels—lots and lots of angels—filled the sky with their singing. They came directly from God’s presence to bring the message. The Bible says that all creation groans (Romans 8:22), but on this occasion, all creation celebrated the birth of Jesus, Abba’s firstborn Son!

The days were coming when Jesus would have to grow up and suffer. God knew these things, but for now, there just weren’t enough blue balloons to show how pleased God was. He had to send His angels to deliver the best news ever! Jesus the Christ, God’s firstborn, was born!

Scripture: Colossians 1:13-14

An Evening Walk with the Father

Why is God so pleased with the birth of His Son when He works in miracles every day? This certainly was different.

We cannot overestimate the pleasure that God the Father took in His firstborn Son and who He is. Nor can we overestimate the pleasure and joy that God experienced when, at last, He could share His Son with us.

At last, after centuries of separation, there is a way for us to be restored to fellowship with God Himself.

We can get very excited about our Savior and mankind’s cosmic rescue. Is God as “giddy” about our salvation as we are? God knew restoration would be coming, all the way back to when when Adam and Eve sinned and were banished from the garden.

A thousand years are as a day to God, but He has been stirred, longing and aching for the birth of His firstborn so that the rest of us could be brought near to Him once again. Once again, we could walk together in the cool of the evening, heart to heart.

God relentlessly pursued His people. He hurtled through the centuries, chasing His stiff-necked, rebellious people who fought Him all the way. God couldn’t let go of His precious children, you and me. Finally, Christmas came, and His exquisite plan displaying His deep love was born. It was Christmas morning for Abba Father, and His stocking was full.

When Christ is born we don’t hear that ache and longing. All we hear are the angels singing, all of them. All the Earth rejoiced. God’s big plan that He laid out for us was afoot. His plan that He hinted at, alluded to, and even outright promised through His prophets was all unfolding in one beautiful baby boy wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.

Scriptures: Hebrews 3:15, Luke 2:8-18

Run to Jesus

After all the private announcements and rejoicing, God finally allowed His news to be told to others. He didn’t start with kings, priests, or dignitaries. He started the public celebration with the nobodies of the world! He began with a second-class people group whose word would never be valued in a court of law—shepherds. He began His announcement with lowly shepherds of the fields.

The shepherds, being the lowest of the low, didn’t seem to be a reason for God to scale back the celebration. God sent an angel and then He filled the sky with all the angels. After taking in the terror of the glory of the Lord, followed by the singing angels, the shepherds were left speechless. What do we do now? They did the logical thing. They ran to the source of light and unspeakable joy. They were the first visitors after Jesus was born.

Christmas is a wonderful time to allow God’s love to compel you to gaze at His face and what that means for you right where you are. Are you in the middle of a field? Are you in the midst of sadness and grief? God knows this and all things. If you hear His call, are drawn to Him in any way, run like the shepherds did to see exactly who this Jesus is. He is God’s own treasure, and He offers Jesus to you too.

Run to Him today!