Christmas will make your life a mess …

Take the one minute, 25 seconds to watch the video below …

When I first saw the commercial above, at first I thought it was a joke … but it’s not!

Do you really see what the advertiser is trying to sell? An imitation bird! And the actors are petting the faux critter and “interacting” with it as if it were real! The announcer makes the argument that this false bird is better than a real pet because it “… brings you all the joy and none of the mess.”

Relationships are messy things, even with our pets. They take time, attention, commitment, caring, giving, forgiving, devotion, and love. Among other things.

As crazy as this product is, Christmas makes me wonder why God didn’t settle for a holy version of “Perfect Polly.” He could have left us with a religion that provided a version of His presence without all the mess, but He didn’t. Instead, God entered this world as a man and got messy with us.

“So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, The glory of the Father’s one and only son,” John 1:14.

He waded through all the experiences of a family, being a son of poor parents in ancient Israel. He put Himself through the happiness and heartaches that comes with humanity and suffered the biggest mess of all – the cross. He did this to make our relationship with Him as real as it gets: personal, one-to-one!

Christmas will make your life a mess, but in a good way. That’s because Christmas brings the Person of God to us. There’s no more faking it, no more distance. Christmas brings all the joy with all the mess of loving and living for a very real Savior.

Don’t settle for anything less than the one true God.

Merry Christmas!

Scotty