A baby changes everything, as a hit song of a few years ago says.In the case of the whole world -- and especially the church, one baby changed everything.
Our congregational reading Sunday in corporate worship included some of the purposes God the Son gave for coming to earth as a man: To do His Father's will (John 6:38); to serve and give His life as a ransom (Matt. 20:28), and to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10).
In reading I John 3 this morning, I noticed two reasons the apostle gives for God becoming a man:
"You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin" (I John 3:5).
"The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil" (I John 3:8b).
When we think of Christmas, we think of a newborn who entered the world in the humblest of circumstances, a child who -- like other children -- was fully dependent, especially on a mother, to provide for Him. And we think this way appropriately.
Yet, we should never lose sight of who that baby is and what He came to do. As John says, He entered the world as a sin-bearing-away Savior and a devil-crushing Conqueror. No wonder Satan sought Jesus' destruction while He was still a small child.
In this season in which we think of a baby, may we dwell on and contemplate His sin- and devil-defying purposes that set us free.
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