Seven Lessons from Christmas

Christmas Lesson One: what seemed sudden was millennia in the making. God watches over his word to perform it. God’s time isn't ours. Wait.

Christmas Lesson Two: Caesar Augustus thought he was really something. He was a bit player in the main drama, a stagehand to move the real stars to Bethlehem.

Christmas Lesson Three: the star was a sign to lead seekers to Jesus. You shine for the same reason.

Christmas Lesson Four: shepherds left their flocks on the hills for the lamb in the manger. There's nothing more important than him.

Christmas Lesson Five: the bright star brought the magi as far as Jerusalem, but only the light of the opened, expounded Scriptures took them to Jesus. We’re graced with natural and special revelation, and the gospel proclaimed is still the power that saves.

Christmas Lesson Six: The shepherds came from nearby, and the magi came from far away. Christ was born to save Jews and Gentiles alike, uniting us through the cross in one new society of faith, hope, & love.

Christmas Lesson Seven: the cradle and the cross cannot be separated. “She wrapped him in cloths and laid him in the manger…they wrapped him in cloths and laid him in the tomb.” The blood on the ground in Bethlehem would lead to the blood on the ground at Calvary. It speaks. It cries out. It says, “It is finished… new life… mercy… I will make all things new!”

Jesus is the gift we needed most, though we did not know what we most needed.

This will always be so.