Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who although He existed in form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.

Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.  Philippians 2:5-11 NASB

Have you ever held a baby while they slept? That peace and joy that they feel seems to be contagious. Babies can do amazing things. They can soften hard hearts. They can cause people to pray. They can wrap us around their tiny little fingers before we even know that it happened. Babies can change things.

Of course, our focus at this time should be on baby Jesus. I had an odd thing happen over the course of the last week. On Sunday December 15th, I attended a church service at the First Baptist Church in New York City. The pastor used the scripture passage today and spoke of God being fully God and fully man. This past Sunday our Sunday school lesson used a different passage, but spoke of the same thing. Our pastor delivered a sermon about the names of Jesus and used the same scripture passage and spoke some of the same things that the pastor in New York has spoken of.

Now I may be a little slow on the uptake, but if God works it out so that I hear the same thing three times, I realize that He must really want me to get it and I also figure that He may want me to share it, so please bear with me.

It’s hard for us to wrap our heads around this, but I will try to be brief so stay with me here. This little baby was fully human. He came from Mary’s womb and was born as any other child, minus the virgin birth of course, but you understand what I mean. He came into this world just as you and I did, being born from our mother’s womb. He came into the world fully God. Because His father was God, He did not have the sinful nature that the rest of us human beings are born with. He had to be without sin so that He could take on the sin of the world. So when you think of that manger scene with that precious little baby, remember that this precious baby boy will grow to take on the sin of the entire world so that sinners like you and me may have the opportunity to spend eternity in heaven with God, the Father. He was born and laid in the manger so that He could die on the cross. This was the sole purpose of His time here on earth. He came to show us how to live and to die so that we may have eternal life (John 3:16).

Now being fully human, we have a sinful nature. The question here today is what will you do with that nature? Are you willing to empty yourself of you and make room for the Holy Spirit to come into your heart? Are you willing to humble yourself? Are you willing to be obedient, even if it means death? These are the things that Jesus did to save us from ourselves and our own sinful natures.

Today, you have a choice. You can empty yourself of your sinful nature, humble yourself and commit to obedience, or you can continue to go your own way. 2 Corinthians says that for our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. We can’t be righteous by our own doing. We can only be righteous when we give our all to our Lord and Savior. If you have a chance today, take a moment to read Matthew 25:34-46. We are told very plainly that sinners will go into eternal punishment and the righteous into eternal life.

We celebrate the birth of this tiny baby boy who came to earth, fully God and fully man so that he could endure the things we endure and not sin and so that He may be obedient to God the Father and die on a cross so that He could pay for your sins and my sins. Will this baby change you? Will you humble yourself and give it all to God? Will you become obedient and submit to Christ? Can you empty yourself of your pride and your sin and make room for the Holy Spirit to come into your heart? If you can do these things, you will experience peace and joy that you never knew existed. I pray that you give your all to God today.

Have a great day!