journey onWord with us

Exactly one week ago tonight i was reclined in a hot tub, staring up at a pitch black sky littered with stars.  i was overcome with awe and an overwhelming sense of smallness as i took in the full expanse of the canopy.  “Who am i?!” echoed in my heart and mind.  “Who am i that He should take notice of me?!”  As we take time out on this second Sunday of Advent to quiet our hearts and minds and orient them in the direction of the birth of Jesus, I would like to suggest a bold and boisterous answer to that essential question.  The words are not mine.  It is the answer i hear from the still, small Voice within me as i consider the narrative of Jesus’ birth (and then life, death and resurrection).

God is just.  Sin demands a ransom.  There will be a window where a lamb from this world will pay that price, but it cannot always be so.  There is only One whose blood carries the power to forgive every sin and every sinner.  And in God’s plan, that One, Jesus, had to become one of us in order to fulfill that purpose.  There was no other way.

i was in the mind’s eye of the Almighty as He decided on a plan of redemption even before speaking all of creation into existence.  You were too.  That plan began with a birth.  Unto us a child was born, unto us God’s Son was given.  There was much yet to do.  Birth was not enough.  But “enough” was not possible absent that holy night when Christ was born.

Why did God willingly choose separation from his Son?  Why did Jesus willingly choose to obey and offer His life as a ransom for ours.  Because He loved me, and because He loved you.

For more than one reason i’d love to go back to reclining in that hot tub.  If i could, i would be quick this time to hear the bold and boisterous answer to my question.  Who am i?  i am His child!  i am His child because of a cradle and a Cross.