In this chapter of Luke, Luke gives an account of the birth of Jesus and his early life. In his time and culture, boys were considered responsible adults around the age of 12. It was not, therefore, irresponsible of Joseph and Mary to accidentally leave Jesus behind. As you all know, I have done that with you kids a time or two, haven't I? It's too embarrassing to go into the story of that any more than that. It wasn't that I was irresponsible so much, either. And, for sure, I loved each of you with a mother's heart and would never have left you on purpose. I bet Mary and Joseph each thought he was with someone else.
God's only son became a person and lived with us for awhile. During his life he was sad, happy, excited, and disappointed. God knows what life on earth is like.
The name "Immanuel" means "God with us". The name "Immanuel" is both comforting and unsettling. Comforting, because He has come to share the danger as well as the drudgery of our everyday lives. He desires to weep with us and to wipe away our tears. And Jesus, the Son of God, longs to share in and to be the source of the laughter and the joy we all too rarely know.
Unsettling because it is one thing to know God as this judge with the long white beard and hair and the book of life - sitting up there in the skies looking down on us from above. But quite another to think and know "He is with us"! He is here with us . . .
And when we think of the times we KNOW He is with us in the midst of our daily, routine lives, in the middle of cleaning the house, or driving somewhere, and He stops us . . . in our tracks and makes his presence known, boy is that ever incredible. Often it is in the middle of the most mundane task that He lets us know He is there with us. I can think of one time in particular when I knew and felt "God with me" "Immanuel". I had brought home this ugly Christmas tree, and had just gotten it put up with a big nail in the wall and tied up there with fish line. I stepped back to look at it and commented to myself how beautiful it looked. At that moment I felt the presence of God. It seemed like a glowing light all around the room. Next I knew I was on my knees, praising Him! I couldn't have been doing a more mundane task than that! We realize when stuff like this happens, that there can be no "ordinary" moments for people who live their lives with Jesus.
Jesus paid a huge price to be with us. Certainly the cross was the most obvious cost. But there is more -
We focus so much on the fact that Jesus died for us, we sometimes forget that He also LIVED for us and lives for us still. If Jesus had simply come as Himself, and not as one of us, the Bible makes it quite clear that we could not have stood the sight of His presence, any more than Moses could have directly looked at the face of God.
Imagine what it would be like to be at the Father's side one moment and struggling to sleep in a cattle trough the next. Imagine what it would be like to hear the angel's praising God one day, and then to the awful taunts of stupid men. We can hardly begin to understand the incredible value of the gift God the Father gave through His only son!
Take a moment and reflect on what "Immanuel - - God with us" means to you in your daily life. Make it a point to seek God even in the mundane tasks of everyday life.
Please share here what and when you have felt this in your life!
5 comments:
What sent the shepherds back to the fields rejoicing, what made the wise men fall down in wonder in the shadow of that babe, was the gripping realization that they were in the presence of their Creator made man.
Think about how difficult it would have been to believe that a common young woman gave birth to a child who is GOD. There HAD to be somethig very special about that baby to cause people to realize that He is, indeed, God among us. What do you think it was? I think it was God communicating with His people, just as He does today in the moments that Lonnie describes here. Immanuel --- God is with us. Allelujia!!!
Wow, this is such a nice teaching. It makes it all so real to imagine him in the barn with the animals and
the scrutiny that Mary & Joseph went through since they weren't married when she became pregnant.
My personal realization of God is every time I look back over how he watches over my every need. How he provides for me and what seems impossible. I look at how I couldn't have planned it better if I knew what was going to happen and I know without a shadow of a doubt that God has his hand in my life.
People keep telling me to write a book. If I felt so inclined, I would definitely be giving all of the glory to God and it would be a testimonial book.
YES I agree, Sharon.
Thanks for sharing, Karen, Sharon, and Linda.
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