Clinging this Christmas

Last Sunday at church we were singing, "Before the Throne of God Above".. a song I love, a song we sing often. As we neared the end and the words rang out..

"Behold Him there the risen Lamb,
My perfect spotless righteousness,
The great unchangeable I AM,
The King of glory and of grace..."
(Charitie Bancroft, 1863)

I thought of the baby, the baby in the manger. And it's a thought I've been pondering and mulling over all week. When I see that baby, I see Christ. He is the Lamb of God that was taken to slaughter, crucified. The baby, the Christ Child, came to be murdered. That was His destiny.

And I think of the beautiful God who loves me so, who sent His Son to that lowly manger. And tears rush as I think of Jesus the King of glory stepping from heaven. It doesn't make sense. But neither does invisible love, nor perfection. Christ is both of those things to me.

The manger scene is a beautiful one.. an angelic baby, radiant Mary and humble Joseph adoring their new babe. The glorious stars twinkling in the sky that sing with all of heaven, rejoicing that redemption has come to earth.

I am desperate for Him. I am frail and weak. Oh so weak. And I need the cross. I need to remember Him on the cross. There is no Christmas without the cross.

"My soul is purchased by His blood.."

He was wounded and was hurt.. He knows wounds and He knows hurts. And the cross shouts LOVE and GRACE to a wounded and hurt world.

So this Christmas, I will cling to the cross. I need daily dying. I need to remember the baby who came to die. His death is my life.

"And if there is no cross in my Christmas, then my Christmas has lost the Christ —- what is the manger if it not for the Messiah, the one who saves us with the scars?" Ann Voskamp



Take a moment to go read Ann's post on this very subject. She puts words to my thoughts and I am so thankful for her gift!