Galatians 4:4-7
But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son to be born of a woman, so that he would be born under the law, in order to redeem those under the law, so that we would be adopted as sons. And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts to shout, “Abba, Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son. And if you are a son, then you are also an heir of God through Christ.
Dear Heavenly Father,
Why Christmas? Why do we celebrate Your Son’s birth? Paul’s words to the church at Galatia explained it so well—that Jesus would be under the law as we are. You gave Your law—the Ten Commandments—to Moses to explain Your will for people, how we love You, and then how we are to love those around us. You gave this as Your expectations of how we are to live and love perfectly without ever missing love’s target.
However, we fail at this because of our sin; everyone chases after their prideful desires, and we fail at loving everyone but ourselves. Everyone falls short of keeping Your commands, so they become a mirror showing us how truly awful we are.
For this reason, we have Christmas, and You sent Your Son, born of a woman and under the law, to repurchase us from sins’ condemnation and our pride. Jesus lived the perfect life we could not live; He loved You perfectly, even on the cross, as he took our sins into Himself, and He loved us by willingly dying in our place, so His blood is our redemption payment.
Everyone who has faith in Your Son trusts Jesus has forgiven them from all their iniquities, and they have salvation and eternal life through Him. His death makes us your adopted sons and daughters; we now call You our Father. As Paul said, if we are Your children, we also inherit heaven.
Lord, thank you for Christmas and the true peace of knowing we are restored to You through faith in Your Son. Grant us opportunities to share this good news with someone who does not know You or has lost sight of You so that they, too, will trust in their Savior Jesus and be adopted as heirs to heaven. Amen.
Written through Pastor Roger Emmons
Because of Christmas, you are given true peace, not as the world sees peace, but peace reunited to God with a new heart of faith in Christ. May the Holy Spirit remain in you and restore a right spirit within you so you will never be cast away from God.