The Miracle of Christmas

Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread. Our reading, titled The Miracle of Christmas, was written by Jennifer Benson Schult. At a garage sale, I found a nativity set in a beat-up cardboard box. As I picked up the baby Jesus, I noticed the finely sculpted details of the infant's body. This newborn wasn't cocooned in a blanket with closed eyes. He was awake and partially unwrapped with outstretched arms, open hands, and fingers extended.

I'm here, he seemed to say. The figurine illustrated the miracle of Christmas—that God sent His Son to earth in a human body. As Jesus' infant body matured, His little hands played with toys, eventually held the Torah and then fashioned furniture before His ministry began.

His feet, once plump and perfect at birth, grew to carry Him from place to place to teach and heal. At the end of His life, these human hands and feet would be pierced with nails to hold His body on the cross. In that body, God declared an end to sin's control over us by giving His Son as a sacrifice for our sins. Romans chapter 8, verse 3 says, if we accept Jesus' sacrifice as payment for all our wrongs and submit our lives to Him, we'll find relief from sin's bondage. Because the Son of God was born to us, a real, wiggling, kicking infant, there's a way to have peace with God and the assurance of an eternity with Him.

Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from Romans chapter 8, verses 1 through 10. Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so He condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires, but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God.

It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.

But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. Let's pray. Dear God, thank You for sending Jesus to earth as a human baby to free us from the bondage of sin and death. Help us to live as those who are truly free, displaying Your love and forgiveness to all. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Thanks for listening today. My name is Alisha Reisinger, and today's encouragement was provided by Our Daily Bread Ministries.