She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger…they found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.
(Luke 2:7b, 16 NIV)
Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them.
(Revelation 20:11 NIV)
Have you ever held a seed in your hand and pondered the miracle of life? This flake can grow peppers for my garden next summer! This kernel can grow a bean, or a bush, or a Sequoia that will fill up the earth with its girth. One barley seed can resupply my fields with barley seeds! A seed contains the full potential of the life that it is. So, here’s a question for you: What if that seed was God?
Jesus, the babe, is the seed of God’s perfect presence planted in the soil of our earth. God covered himself in clay to germinate, mature, and spread his life. We had cast him out, but he came back like a tuber root pushing under the surface of things: God in the angel (Genesis 16:7-13), God in the night stranger (Genesis 32:22-32), God in the bush (Genesis 3:2-4), God in the pillar of cloud (Exodus 13:21), God in the animal skins (Exodus 25:8, 36:14-19), God in the Temple (1 Kings 9:3), God in the voice (1 Kings 19:11-13). And finally, and fully God—pitched and potted—in human skin (John 1:1).
The babe will grow up to become everything God is: unlimited love, infinite goodness, and the perfection of wisdom. He is investing his seed in us until he fills our field, until he fills every field. One day, the heavens and earth will strain to contain him, God-the-Infinite, with no space left for anything but his love!
What is the opposite of love? Sin. What is sin? Sin is the nothingness of self. A shadow and a lie, it is the lack of love. It is a life where we’ve pushed God to the margins. When we choose to live outside God’s love, we become ghosts passing through his world but never occupying it. Sin makes Ebeneezer Scrooge out of us, intangible phantoms passing through and passing away.
In the fullness of time, when the light becomes bright enough, there will be no darkness left for the ghosts to hide. Revelation 20:11 says, “The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them.” This Christmas, I remind you to let the seed of God’s perfect peace mature in you. Let the feast of his joy drive out insecurity, defensiveness, and sarcasm. Let the clarity of his truth and his goodness displace every confusion, resentment, and competition. Decide to live this Christmas in his white light. His holy sweet light will satisfy your soul and renew the world with the savor of his love.
Tags: truth, love, christmas, jesus, joy, incarnation, baby, reproduce
