A Christmas Thought

I am enjoying reading, Disappointment With God, by Philip Yancey.  What I read this morning really helped me to picture in my mind, as best I can in human form, what the Incarnation was like for God.  I've often wondered why, if God is so powerful and in control of all things, he doesn't act more and just "make" people love and serve Him.  This was a satisfying thought for me.

"'Suppose there was a king who loved a humble maiden,' begins a story by Kierkegaard.

The king was like no other king.  Every statesman trembled before his power.  No one dared breathe a word against him, for he had the strength to crush all opponents.  And yet this mighty king was melted by love for a humble maiden. 

How could he declare his love for her?  In an odd sort of way, his very kingliness tied his hands.  If he brought her to the palace and crowned her head with jewels and clothed her body in royal robes, she would surely not resist--no one dared resist him.  But would she love him?

She would say she loved him, of course, but would she truly?  Or would she live with him in fear, nursing a private grief for the life she had left behind.  Would she be happy at his side?  How could he know?

If he rode to her forest cottage in his royal carriage, with an armed escort waving bright banners, that too would overwhelm her.  He did not want a cringing subject.  He wanted a lover, an equal.  He wanted her to forget that he was a king and she a humble maiden and to let shared love cross over the gulf between them. 

'For it is only in love that the unequal can be made equal,' concluded Kierkegaard.  The king, convinced he could not elevate the maiden without crushing her freedom, resolved to descend.  He clothed himself as a beggar and approached her cottage incognito, with a worn cloak fluttering loosely about him.  It was no mere disguise, but a new identity he took on.  He renounced the throne to win her hand."

Yancey then goes on to quote a portion of Philippians 2, which has also been on my mind recently since we memorized in our discipleship group.

...Christ Jesus, Who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped.  But made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross.

My favorite Scripture to think upon at Christmas is Galatians 4:4-7:

"But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.  And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!'  So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God."

As my pastor reminded us this Christmas, "If you ever wonder about God's love for you, yes, look to the cross...but even more so, look to the manger!"  God became one of us so that He could redeem us!  Everytime I am reminded and I take the time to really think on what this means, the Spirit helps me to grasp it just a little more.  Thanks be to God!