Traveler in a Strange Land

                                                                     

   He was a sojourner in a faraway land. He came to this place from as far away as you can imagine, to live as we do, to be as we are. He came to show us what life is about and how we should live it. More importantly, he came to tell us about it in person. As one of us. That’s where it got interesting. 

   You see, God gave us free will (you’ll have to ask Him yourself why) and the ability to choose right and wrong. Righteousness or sin. If He’d wanted simple obedience, I’m betting He could’ve simply appeared to all mankind, told us what to do and forced us to comply. We would’ve been overwhelmed, awed and cowed into doing whatever He told us to do. That’s not God’s style, evidently. He took a different approach. He came here Himself, in the form of a child, and experienced everything that His own creations experienced. Pain. Sorrow. Happiness. Joy. Grief. Excitement. Boredom. Work.  
Rest. All of it. He came to where we were, lived as we did, and then began to teach us how we should treat one another. That’s a bold move.  

   He survived suspicious folks who looked sideways at Mary (How exactly did you get pregnant? Tell us again…), who scoffed at Jesus lowly upbringing in Nazareth (after spending several years in the exotic land of Egypt), and who sneered at Him when He began His ministry because, let’s face it, who WOULDN’T be skeptical of the “prophet” who lived next door to you growing up? I hate to admit it, but I probably would avoid talking to him if I saw Him out cutting the grass. 

 ‘Don’t look at Him. He’ll want to tell you a parable about coins or lost sheep. Weirdo.’  

   Such is how we judge those we have known our whole lives but cannot imagine them being more than just our neighbor. Even with all that judginess coming at Him, one of the top things He taught us was the whole “Love Thy Neighbor” thing. Quite a guy, that Jesus. He laid it all out plainly: love God, love your neighbor (and we are ALL neighbors, He pointed out) just like you love yourself (that implies that we should love ourselves, too), and accept Him as your Savior. He saved us from sin, our selfishness, and an eternity of separation from Him. And He came in person to tell us. Seems to me we should be able to admit that if God Himself can come down from Heaven, be born as a man, live and die as one of us, then we should believe Him and accept Him. Especially when He’s simply telling us to love one another and love Him. Simple, huh? 

   While we celebrate the birth of the Savior, keep in mind that every olive-skinned foreigner with an accent, running from oppression, isn’t here to harm us. At least one of them came to save us from ourselves.  

Merry Christmas and God bless Y’all!