The Manger’s Meaning

This is the time of year when a lot of emphasis is placed on Jesus as a baby in the manger. I’m not complaining at all, but I know that there is much more to Jesus’ coming than a birthday celebration and the nativity scene.

He was born to have a body. Jesus was God in the flesh. John says, that the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us (Jn. 1:14). The body gave us a lasting living example of true righteousness. We can walk and talk like Him only because he came down here from up there.

He had a body to have blood. It’s the blood that washes away all iniquity. In fact, the blood is essential to our cleansing and covenant. The blood of Jesus is literally the blood of God. Perfect, powerful and perpetual, His blood remains effective. That is why it is still strong to save this sinful world.

He had blood so that He could die. It wasn’t the birth that saved us. It was His death. He took our guilt and punishment so that we could have His innocence and life. He is the repentant sinner’s divine substitution. This would not have worked had He come down with His godly substance.

This is the real meaning of the manger. He was and is God’s gift to man. Not to be ritualized but reverenced. Christmas is nice, but Christianity is the real deal.

Lord I lift your name on high.

Lord I love to sing your praises.

I'm so glad you're in my life.

I'm so glad you came to save us.

You came from heaven to earth

to show the way.

From the earth to the cross

my debt to pay.

From the cross to the grave, from the grave to the sky.

Lord I lift your name on high.

- Lincoln Brewster

Crushed for Stuff

Black Friday, huge crowds, discount prices, locked doors; the perfect storm. Our thoughts and prayers go out for the family of Jdimytal Damour ,in his shockingly tragic death. Damour was trampled to death beneath the rush of a crowd. Had they been fleeing a catastrophe or some terrifying event, then perhaps his death would’ve made some sense. This crowd was running for a sale. They were infused with the ‘stuff drive’. This 34 year old lost his life because of 50% off.

It’s a sign of the times. This tragedy is actually characteristic of our culture. Maybe not as obvious. Maybe not so ‘newsworthy’. But lives are often destroyed because of the ‘stuff-drive’.
In my ministry history I’ve seen heartbreaking evidences. Couples on the verge of divorce because of separate finances. A single mother ignoring an eviction notice so she could get a new weave. Economic enslavement, wanton wastefulness and purposeless pursuits. And the saga continues.

Don’t get me wrong, there is a place for stuff, but it ought not be our drive. In the right priority all things are beautiful, all things are lovely. God first, family second, church third, community fourth and then self. That’s the right order. That’s the way of peaceful prosperity. Any other way becomes tragic.

Eventually or evidently, subtly or obviously the All-Wise makes His point – “ And he said unto them, Take heed, and keep yourselves from all covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth (Luke 12:15)”

We should master money and things rather than letting money and things master us.

I wonder if the store closed after Damour died. Even more, I wonder if those who stepped on him kept on shopping.