A Christmas devotion

The birth of Jesus shows us two important truths: 1) God is with us and 2) God is for us. In Matthew's gospel, an angel appears to Joseph after he had resolved in his mind to quietly divorce Mary, so as to not cause her public shame, and reveals to him that what is conceived in her is from the Spirit. Matthew then says in 1:21-23, " She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). God became a man. Heaven came down. God is with us. Why is this significant for you and me? C.S. Lewis said, "The Son of God became a man to enable men to become the sons of God." God could only save what Christ became. Christ became like you and me so that we might become like Him. God is with us. And he is also for us. Galatians 4:4-5 says, "But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship." He was born for us, crucified for us, and as John says, went to be with his Father to prepare a place for us (Jn. 14:12) God is with us. And He is for us. He is not distant and aloof. May our hearts rejoice this Christmas as we worship a God who knows us, cares for us, and has us on His mind.