The Reminder of Every Nativity

Growing up in the mountains of East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia, in the Smoky Mountains, specifically, I didn’t realize how my surroundings were coveted by so many people who didn’t live there. A breathtaking sunrise over Whitetop Mountain was a common sight. Wildlife running through the rich colors of fall was just part of another drive to school.

Then I began to meet people who vacationed there. That was mind blowing to me. It wasn’t until I considered how something so magnificent had been normalized throughout my life to the point that I was missing its beauty that I began to truly value and cherish it.

So much about our faith can happen in this same way, especially with the story of Christmas. We have heard it all before countless times. The beautiful star, the magi, the baby in a manger, the angels – we know the plot like the back of our hand.

But what if we have become too familiar with something that is otherwise supernatural and beyond magnificent? What if we are missing the most amazing part of all?

For me, the gravity of the incarnation was what I missed among my familiarity with the story. This is truly the remarkable beauty of the story, that God came to be man. What many of us miss is that this is what makes our faith unlike any other – this is what makes our faith real.

Religion is man’s attempt to get to God. Every world religion has a set of standards or laws that must be followed in order to please its god. Their god is unreachable and unattainable.

What the story of Christmas shows is that our faith is no religion at all. It is completely different. It is the only story where man doesn’t have to attempt to get to God, because God chose to come to man. Our God is not unreachable or unattainable. He came to us. He stands at our door and knocks. He seeks us and pursues us, desiring that none would perish.

My prayer for you this Christmas season is that you would become acquainted or reacquainted with the remarkable and supernatural incarnation. With every nativity scene you pass by, may your heart be reminded that God chose to come to you. With every carol that you sing, may you be in awe of the fact that you are so loved you don’t have to work your way to God. And with every gift that you give or receive, may you – and we – remember the gift that Christmas celebrates as one that is not familiar or common, but exceptional, transformational, and truly incredible.