Emmanuel – God With Us

Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,

Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

-Matthew 1:22-23, KJV

Christianity is not a religion based on a detached and distant god.

Our God got His “hands” messy.

Our God came in the flesh–i.e. the incarnation–and lived among us–His Creation–as Jesus, Emmanuel. He experienced suffering, pain, and sorrow. Scripture says: He was “despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3, KJV).

Christmas this year may be particularly difficult for many who come here.

Holidays seem to bring out the bombs and fall-out of infidelity. I do not know why, but it seems this is the case. This is the time when the vestiges of lost happy dreams and a shattered past can come to the forefront.

Maybe you are celebrating alone while the cheater gets the kids this year? Or perhaps, you are struggling to makes ends meet and have to work on this holiday? Or maybe you just unearthed more information exposing the truth that the cheating was going on much longer than you had ever thought?

I do not know where you are at this Christmas.

But I do know where God is:

God is with you!

It may not feel like it. But He is Emmanuel–God with us. Jesus is weeping with you as you look at your shattered life. He is celebrating with you as you pick up the pieces and start a new life as well. Jesus is enraged over the injustices you are suffering as well.

No emotion is lost on Him. 

Our God chose to experience our world firsthand as one of His own creatures, a man. It is truly Good News to us for that means our God is uniquely qualified to walk alongside us through our valley of tears….and that is reason enough, indeed, to proclaim a hearty:

“Merry Christmas!”