Advent: Join the Triumphনমুনা

The Scripture:

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them" (Genesis 1:27, ESV).

The Story:

Did you know that the Bible is one Giant Story? It is all connected and has lots of smaller stories inside one Big Story. Around Christmastime one year, I decided I was going to read the Story of Jesus being born in the Bible. I was shocked that it was not on the first page. I thought Jesus being born was the first story in the Bible. (Just so you don’t make the same mistake I did, it is not the first story.)

Why is the Christmas Story so far into the Bible? God wants to show us how much He loves us and how much we need Jesus. The stories before Jesus’ Birth are so important to know who God is and who we are created to be. And today’s verse tells us exactly who we are. We are created by God and for God. God, in His Love, in His Creativity, and in His Goodness created humans. Every person you see today, whether they are old or young, mean or nice, tall or short, even your neighbor (who you know lives there but you have never seen them and they never have any Halloween candy or Christmas decorations), are all created by God. They are important and special, and you are important and special.

Each person around the world was created by God with a special Purpose. But also we were created to be best friends with God. We were not created to do life alone. In fact, the Bible would tell us that we have a God-shaped hole in our hearts (Ecclesiastes 3:11). We need God to be our Best Friend to truly have Victory.

When you hang out with your friends, don’t you get that same joyful feeling you do as when you win a baseball game? The same is true for God! When we are with God, we have Joy and Victory. We were made for God, and so the closer we follow Him, the more we experience Victory.

The Triumph:

In the Christmas Story, the Bible calls Jesus “Immanuel.” Immanuel means God With Us. What Good News! If we need God as our Best Friend to experience Joy and experience Victory, then Jesus is the One we were waiting for. Jesus is the way we can be Best Friends with God, and it’s through Jesus’ Victory on the Cross that we can experience the Joy and Victory of being Best Friends with God. Christmas is the celebration that God wants to be your Best Friend and that He would send His own Son to make a way for you to be His Best Friend.