Christmas - That We Might Have Life預覽

DAY 6, DEVOTION 6

Unplanned Pregnancy Points to Christmas

A woman facing an unplanned pregnancy is a Christmas metaphor. Not Mary’s unexpected pregnancy with Jesus— but rather, Israel’s need for a Savior—stuck, lost, mired in a series of faithless decisions resulting in the loss of physical and moral freedom. Like Israel, she is unable to resolve the crisis without powerful intervention from the outside. A woman who may consider ending her God-given pregnancy is shipwrecked on the same reef of despair as you and I were, and as the nation of Israel was before Christ’s birth.

Like Mary, many women face unplanned pregnancies today. Unlike Mary, they do not have the comfort of an angel assuring them that the baby they carry is a part of God's plan for their life. Some are often in anguish and feel powerless and trapped, having lost what they desired for their life. Much like ‘Rachel weeping for her children’ (Jeremiah 31:15; Matthew 2:18), the only way to dry her tears is to realize the hope that has been made apparent through Christ’s birth. Israel was stripped of its inheritance under God’s judgment and deported to Babylon for their sin. Yet, God had a plan to deliver His people through the incarnation of His Son, called Immanuel, which translated means "God with us" (Matthew 1:23). The arrival of Jesus signaled the final end to the cause of their weeping which the LORD, through Jeremiah, commanded saying, “Restrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears” (Jeremiah 31:16) for “He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).

But how will this salvation happen? The Savior’s work would fulfill the covenant of law under Moses when God freed the people from their bonds in Egypt (Matthew 2:15; Jeremiah 31:32). After all, Jesus says in Matthew 5:17, “Do not think I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.” Jeremiah says, “’Behold, days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah… for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,’ declares the LORD, ‘for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more’” (Jeremiah 31:31, 34). This is God’s plan of redemption. This is the glorious reality of His grace, worked out among sinners. The nativity is the dawning of the long-awaited morning star of restoration rising over Israel’s perpetual night as God “became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14) and was revealed to all—the small (lowly shepherds, Luke 2:8ff) and the great (King Herod, Matthew 2:3). And His work on the cross, the very purpose for His coming, the new covenant in Christ’s blood, has the power to free us from our bondage under sin when we submit to Him, rather than continue to be ruled by our own desires. God has given all Christians the ability to offer women facing unplanned pregnancies and all who are trapped by the bondage or addiction of sin, that same assurance of peace through salvation that comes only from Jesus.

Because Jesus came through a manger and bore the burden of our sin on the cross, we are now free in the power of the Holy Spirit to “Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2). Christians can point others to the Christ-child, offering the treasure of truth about who they are as humans made in the image of God and their need for restoration with Him.

Jeremiah says to us all, “‘There is hope for your future,’ declares the LORD, ‘And your children will return to their own territory’” (Jeremiah 31:17). Our territory as humans is walking with God. “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31).

Questions for Reflection

Describe the parallels between Mary and a woman facing an unplanned pregnancy today.

How is our own need for a Savior met at the manger?

How can we provide hope to those facing crisis and turmoil in various trials?

Father God,

Thank you for the illustration of the woman facing an unplanned pregnancy and how it points to our own need for a Savior. Everything you create, you have a plan to redeem. And you have provided reconciliation through the manger in Bethlehem to the cross of Calvary. It is only through Jesus that we have life. We are grateful.

Amen.