Christ in You

Put yourself in her shoes for just a moment. You're a teenager, perhaps only 15, when suddenly an angel shows up. That in itself might be disturbing, but then the greeting comes, "You who are highly favored." Highly favored? "I'm 15 years old, I'm a woman in a man's world, and I'm highly favored?" you might think. Then comes the stunner. "You will be with child. You are to call him Jesus for he will be the Son of the Most High." Shaking, you reply, "How could this possibly happen. I'm a virgin."

Now comes the tricky part, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the one born to you will be called the Son of God."

It's beginning to sink in. You have been selected to be the mother of Messiah. But how is it supposed to happen again? That's right, the Holy Spirit will impregnate you and the child you carry will be the Son of God. Preposterous, right?

The notion is so amazing we refer to it as the Immaculate Conception--a miracle of the human and the divine.

But isn't that what grace is--the intersecting of divinity with humanity?

Listen to Paul's words in Galatians 2:20 in the midst of his discourse on grace. "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."

One of the miracles of grace is that as surely as the virgin Mary literally carried Christ within her for nine months of pregnancy, just as surely He can live within us by faith. In Colossians 1:27, Paul refers to this as "Christ in you, the hope of glory."

As you celebrate Christmas, the miraculous birth of Christ, may you also celebrate the ongoing miracle of the human and the divine--Christ in you!

God bless and have a Merry Christmas!