“And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:20
It’s happened again. When I was in my teens and early twenties, my family and I would sit up late talking on Christmas night. We usually had the radio on so we had Christmas carols playing in the background. Every year, we laughed at the fact that at the stroke of midnight, the carols suddenly stopped and the stations went back to their regular programming, almost as if Christmas had never happened. While we may laugh at radio stations, that can also happen in our hearts. And that’s no laughing matter.
We have just celebrated the incarnation, which means that God because flesh. We call Him Immanuel, which means “God with us.” If Jesus had just come as a baby, and either stayed a baby or immediately returned to heaven, it still would have been incredible. To think of the King of the universe choosing to take on human flesh! As it says in one of my favorite carols, Arrival, “Royalty robed in the flesh He created.” But Jesus didn’t stop there. He grew, He lived, He ministered, He experienced, He loved, He cried, He healed, He taught, He bled, He died, He rose again! But He still doesn’t stop. He tells us that He will never leave us! This Christmas story, this babe in the manger, is just the beginning.
Now that the carols have stopped playing, the wrappings are cleaned up, and the big dinners are over, where is Jesus? Is He still in the manger? Is He a cute little baby to coo over? Or has He moved on to live within you, minister to you, love you, heal you, teach you? Has He been given His rightful place on the throne of your heart? Has He truly become the Lord of your life? If He has, what will your response be? Will you keep Him as a beautiful, sweet secret in your heart? Or will you spread Him to everyone you meet?