Welcome to Van Life Devotions. When God decided to select a mother for His Son, He went past the fashion shops and hairdressers. He went past the jewellery section of the markets displaying their precious jewels but instead went to an insignificant village called Nazareth where He found a peasant girl. She did not dress in designer clothes. She did not have a sophisticated education. But she was pure, and God selected her to be the mother of His only Son.
And when it was time, He was not born in Mt. Sinai Hospital in Jerusalem, surrounded by doctors and nurses but rather, He was born in a stable. He was wrapped in cloths and laid in a feeding trough.
It’s hard to imagine a baby being born in such surroundings and yet I’ve been inside a birthing clinic in the backstreets of Malawi in Africa. No bed, no electricity, no running water, not even rubber gloves. There were flies and a wasp nest. And there was a push bike for emergencies. If there is an emergency the heavily pregnant mother is placed on a metal frame attached to a bike and is taken many kilometres away on the bumpy dirt roads. Many don’t make the distance.
It was into these kinds of conditions that God sent His Son. In 2 Corinthians 8 verse 9 Paul wrote about Christ’s coming that first Christmas, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9 NIV).
Paul is probably thinking of the riches that Jesus enjoyed while in heaven which included equality with God and being in the form of God as mentioned Philippians 2:6. But then Jesus became poor. Paul could be thinking of how Jesus was born into a poor family and their environment. Or Paul could have in mind Jesus' identification with those who are "poor in spirit". Maybe its both. Paul said in Philippians 2:7-8, “he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant… and becoming obedient to death - even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:7-8 NIV). He left the safety and glory of heaven to be one with us. He did this for our sake so we might become rich – rich in the blessings of God including forgiveness, mercy, salvation, and the Holy Spirit. He became poor so we might become rich. Incredible when you pause and meditate on this truth. He became poor so we might become rich. Why would He do this for us? For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son…
If you follow Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, you are rich with every spiritual blessing as mentioned in Ephesians 1. And yet, here’s the challenge: Like Jesus, will you put aside some of your comforts to care for the vulnerable? This is the message of Christmas.
Let’s pray.
Dear Lord Jesus. Thank you for leaving the safety and glory of heaven on that first Christmas to live with us. For our sake You became poor so we might be rich. Thank you for the blessings we enjoy. Help us to be a blessing to those who do it tough. O God, preserve us who travel; surround us with your loving care; protect us from every danger; and bring us in safety to our journey’s end; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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