Glorious—totally, completely glorious
We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind…. And yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We all are formed by your hand. — Isaiah 64:6,8
If we are looking for a truly meaningful Christmas, then we start with the fact that we are all infected and impure with sin. Whoa. Ouch. That’s going down whole.
Every one of us is infected with distance-creating and damage invoking sin. Yet this sin doesn’t have to destroy. The reason for Advent us to not so much to understand how God joins us (because even with a star, an innkeeper, and well-seasoned shepherds, no one can fully explain the divine mystery). Instead, the reason for the season is to celebrate that Emmanuel, God with us, IS in fact with us.
There’s more. We are the clay. God is the potter. This means God is not done with us, and God is not distant to us. The early December Christmas present for us is that we are not just formed by God’s hand; we are continually being formed (present tense) by His hand. And our sin to His salvation? Whoa, that? That is glorious—totally, completely glorious.
PRAYER: We wither and fall, Lord God. Keep at us and on us with Your love, we pray. Amen.
Leave a Reply