The Miracle of Christmas
A devotional by Leslie Bake
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”—Isaiah 9:6 (NIV)
When my mother was employed as a secretary in the chaplaincy department at the Iowa Methodist Medical Center, she told me that she made it a priority to visit the neonatal ward a few floors above her office during the Christmas season.
She said she needed to visit the newborns to remind herself of how Jesus Christ came into our world as an innocent newborn baby who was crying and helpless. Why is this baby Jesus so important at Christmas?
First, Jesus was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit in a virgin named Mary. God was beginning a whole new work in His creation. The infinite, unlimited God took on the limitations of humanity so that He could live and die for the salvation of all who choose to believe in Him. Jesus Christ, God’s Son, had to be free from the sinful nature passed on to all human beings by Adam. Therefore, the Holy Spirit came upon Mary, not to violate her, but to gift her with pregnancy despite the fact that she had never been with a man. Secondly, because Jesus was born of a woman, he was a human being. He was both fully human and fully divine.
Of course it's not logical by our human reasoning. Nothing about the birth of Jesus makes sense. That’s why it’s a miracle. Neither Mary nor Joseph who was engaged to marry her, realized that God had chosen them to be a part in His sovereign plan. Mary had no idea that God picked her to be an unwed mother. Joseph had no idea that he had been tagged as Jesus’s earthly father and that he was to move forward with his plans to marry his beloved when she was pregnant with a child who was obviously not his. That’s why angels visited them to explain those baffling events.
But what they did know and were sure of before they came together in marriage, was the history of God’s faithfulness. Their parents taught them this truth. Joseph and Mary were Jews and among God’s chosen people. They grew up listening to their religious leaders reading the prophesies from Isaiah 9:6 in the Old Testament and several others stating that God would send a Messiah through the lineage of David. This was why Mary and Joseph chose their faith in God over their feelings that could convince them otherwise. They decided to obey Him and trust God’s special plan.
God knew we needed a Savior to save us from our sin. True to His humble character, God sent His Son, Jesus, as baby born not to a wealthy and powerful king and queen in a beautiful palace with servants to wait on him, but to peasants in a village in the middle of nowhere called Bethlehem in a shelter that housed animals. Jesus came with no fanfare or celebration, but quietly one Holy night.
God sent Jesus to make our Christmas season joyful! Jesus came to Earth to save us because we can’t save ourselves from sin and its consequences. No matter how good we are, we can’t eliminate the sinful nature present in us. Only Jesus can do that. Jesus came to deliver people not only from their oppression but also from themselves. Jesus was God in the flesh, so that’s how God was (and still is) among us. When we can fully grasp the gravity of our entitlement, our rage, our selfishness, pride, and indifference, we are able to more deeply appreciate the gift of Jesus. Let us remember that He came to give us peace, joy and love.
Call to Action:
When the Amazon delivery of your Christmas order is late, when the malls are teaming with holiday shoppers, when the check-out lines are endless, remember how deeply entrenched our culture is in materialism, and why we need Jesus.
When the Starbucks drive-through line is 20 cars deep and you are running low on caffeine and patience, close your eyes, breathe deeply and remember that instead of feeding your addictions, you can turn to Jesus for rest and peace.
When you are struggling to find that expensive gift to impress the relative who already has everything, instead of falling in the trap of competition and comparison, remember that Jesus has already given you and them everything needed to worship and adore Him.
When families and loved ones gather to rip open your beautifully wrapped gifts that makes a mess in your lovely home, remember how messy your sin is and the forgiveness that Jesus offers you.
Even as adults, we remain messy and stinky in our sin. Our crying has not ceased, either out of grief for a broken world or from selfishness when we don’t get our way. Most importantly, we are still helpless and need a Savior to take our sins upon himself. This is why we have Jesus Christ.
Let’s Pray:
Dear Heavenly Father, we thank You and praise You for sending your only son, Jesus, to us when we were in a mess of sin and didn’t realize it. We didn’t know we were miserable until the healing hand of Jesus was on us, forgiving us and setting us free from sin’s bondage. Help us to remember what this Christmas season is about and not allow materialism and consumerism to distract us from the real gift of your presence among us now and forever. In Jesus’s Name we pray. Amen.
Song of Reflection #1: “The Heart of Christmas” by Matthew West. Listen to it here.
Song of Reflection #2: “For Unto Us” by Point of Grace. Listen to it here.
Song of Reflection #3: “His Plan” by The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir. Listen to it here.
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Author Bio:
Leslie Bake grew up Lutheran in Des Moines, graduated from the University of Northern Iowa with an undergraduate degree in English, and with a new understanding of what a relationship with the Lord could look like.
She spent a few years reporting and editing in small town journalism and then began pursuing a master’s degree at Iowa State University in teaching English to speakers of other languages. Then she got married and later went through a divorce, which deepened her relationship with God and transformed her life.
Leslie taught English as a second language for three years at Kansas State University, then returned to writing and earned a master’s degree in creative non-fiction in Pittsburgh. Her memoir will eventually be published. It details the process of how the Lord created beauty from the ashes of divorce.
Pittsburgh is also where she met and married her second husband. They are now the parents of two wonderful children—one in fifth grade and one in first grade.
Leslie and her husband make their home in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. Leslie has been a stay-at-home mom for the past 11 years and actively growing her writing career alongside her two growing children.
She now maintains a monthly blog of her own and is working toward expanding her writing ministry on Substack. Her heart’s deepest desire is to help others connect with God through writing.
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Connect with Leslie:
Website: lesliejoybake.com
Substack: lesliebake.substack.com
E-mail address: Leslie.bake@yahoo.com
