God Can Relate

Have you ever experienced the joy of connecting with someone who had walked through the same difficulties you experienced? To find someone who can relate with you in all your pain, hardships, triumphs, and joys is wonderful thing. Often times, we gravitate toward those who can relate to our lives because they have walked through the same hard things. For example, throughout my time in the military, there existed a common bond that was created through deploying to another country and being put in harms way together. The bonds created were lifelong and meaningful. Why? We shared a common experience and therefore could relate to one another in ways that other people who had never been deployed into a war could. Why am I sharing this?
We are about to celebrate the most profound act in the history of the universe. It is called the Incarnation. Emmanuel. God with us! John 1:14 declares, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us...". Why is this so amazing? The eternal Creator God of the heavens and the earth, the sustainer of all things, after being betrayed by His creation, chose to come into human history to live the life you and I are supposed to live. This means that Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, can relate to you perfectly. Perhaps you are going through difficulties financially. Did you know Jesus can relate to you? Mary and Joseph were very poor. They couldn't even afford a normal sacrifice of a lamb, so they had to purchase turtledoves (Luke 2:24). Jesus grew up in a single income family of a blue collar worker, and learned the trade of a carpenter. Jesus understood what it meant to live through hard times financially. He can relate to you. Jesus knows what it's like to have fun, experience joy, and even pain and deep sorrow. Jesus knows exactly what it's like to be betrayed by those He was vulnerable with. He knows what it feels like to have a Father turn His back on Him. God the Father knows what it feels like to lose a child. The list could go on and on!
What a wonderful God we have! I'm so thankful that God chose to come into the world. He alone truly knows what I'm going through at any given moment of my life. Did you know that He desires a relationship with you? We love to be in relationship with those who have walked through the same life experiences. I hope and pray that as we celebrate God with us, that our love for, and desire to be in relationship with Jesus, increases and matures as we see the glory of the Incarnation of God coming to live with, and save us!

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!