By Susan Ciancio
“And the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us, and we saw His glory.” – John 1:14
In just a few short days, we will celebrate the birth of our Lord. Roughly 2,000 years ago, God gave us the most precious gift possible; He gave us a Savior. We did not deserve this gift. We had sinned. We had betrayed God. We knew His laws, but we did what we wanted anyway and pushed Him out of our lives. Yet with compassion and mercy, He looked at this world filled with the human beings He created and His heart was filled with love.
So He sent His Son. And as we hear in the song “O Holy Night,” “the weary world rejoices.”
The night that Christ was born truly changed the world. All of God’s promises in the Old Testament were fulfilled, and in His death we can live. Eternity with God can now be ours. Yet our choices still matter, as they determine whether or not we accept or reject His offer.
In a truly touching video set to Josh Groban’s rendition of “O Holy Night,” we see clips from a movie called The Nativity Story. Mary and Joseph are together in the stable, and Mary has just given birth. Joseph holds Baby Jesus and looks upon Him with pure joy. Later, an elderly man (likely representing Simeon) arrives and falls to his knees before the baby, tears flowing from his eyes.
As we contemplate the gift of Baby Jesus, let us also contemplate how we receive Him.
I urge you to watch this video to help you remember the reason we celebrate Christmas. And then I urge you to ask yourself: When was the last time I gazed upon a Nativity scene or the cross with that same look of immense love and adoration that both Joseph and Simeon showed in this video?
If we are honest with ourselves, we will understand that this is how we should always look at our Lord.
Christ came to this world as a tiny baby to give us a chance at eternal life, and in His coming “the soul felt its worth.”
What are we worth? We are worth mocking and beatings. We are worth the nails. We are worth an agonizing death. Why? Because we matter to God, and we are His.
This Christmas, let us remember that our lives are not our own. They belong to Christ. Let us find joy in this fact and give Him the greatest gift we possibly can—ourselves.
And let us rejoice when we gaze upon Baby Jesus—on Christmas and every day.
Merry Christmas from all of us at the Culture of Life Studies Program!
