“What did you get for Christmas?” It was the very first question we as children asked our friends upon returning to school in January. We couldn’t wait to tell others what we received, and we listened intently as they recalled their Yuletide treasure. Now that we are adults, our question is a bit more grown up—“What did you do for Christmas?” we ask. Some gather here and some travel there. Some meet with friends, while others relax alone. Some are ready to get back to work; others perhaps not so much. But Christmas still stirs its curiosities: What did you get? and What did you do?
We celebrate Christmas as a promised fulfilled: Jesus, our Immanuel—our “God with us”1—has come, just as God through Isaiah foretold.2 Paul tells us Jesus “is the image of the invisible God”3; He is not a man who became God, but God taking on human flesh for a time and for a purpose. Then we might ask, what did Jesus do here? And Paul would answer that, through the obedience of Christ, God has “rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption the forgiveness of sins.”4 “He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.”5 What did Jesus do here? He took away our sin at great cost to Himself.
Then what did Jesus get here? In a word, us. He redeemed—purchased back for Himself—that which had been lost, that which was “created through him and for him.”6 We were created for Him and now He has redeemed us to be His very own. Just think how important we must be to Him. Imagine how He must love us. You. Me. Us. What, then, is left for us to do but to thank Him, praise Him, and worship Him through our redeemed lives. For He made us for Himself, He redeemed us for Himself, and now we are His.
“For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.”—Romans 11:36
Father, thank You for redeeming us through Your Son and making us Your own. May we never lose sight of our worth to You or Your love for us. In the name of Christ our Savior we pray. Amen.
1 Matthew 1:23
2 Isaiah 7:14
3 Colossians 1:15
4 Colossians 1:13-14
5 Colossians 2:13-14
6 Colossians 1:16
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Paul Nordman—Author 