December 17: If He Did Not Come

Today in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord.
Luke 2:11(NIRV)

It was a yearly challenge, trying to arrange our schedules to go home for Christmas. With three children cramped into an old Datsun station wagon, the trip from Texas to Ohio presented a formidable task. To add incentive, my dear mother, would enumerate the consequences if we did not come home. We would miss her oven-fresh, sweetly seasoned Italian Christmas cookies, the endless display of lights, the beauty of falling snow, and of course, she wouldn’t be able to spoil her grandsons.

Did you even wonder what would have happened if Christ had not come that first Christmas? We would miss the shepherds, the star in the east, the birth in Bethlehem, and the angels singing.

Who could comprehend servanthood without its greatest model, the world without a redeemer, and the future without hope?

But Christ did come! He came as a Savior to pay a debt He did not owe and to give a gift we did not deserve. Because Christ came to us, we can come to Him. In faith we come, leaving our sins behind and reaching out our hands and hearts to the Lord.

Lord, help me to reflect on Your coming with joy and peace for today along with the assurance of eternal life.

Bob Petruccio