God reinstates holiness into human nature through Christmas …

It is so common for human beings to think too highly of themselves that we have a biblical exhortation to not do that!

“Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us,” Romans 12:3.

And we find this in the same chapter:

“Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all!” Romans 12:16

The Apostle Paul, who penned the above scriptures, would also write in Philippians 2:3, “Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves,” but according to one researcher for livescience.com, we actually behave the opposite of how Paul encourages us to behave:

“Since psychological studies first began, people have given themselves top marks for most positive traits. While most people do well at assessing others, they are wildly positive about their own abilities. That’s because we realize the external traits and circumstances that guide other people’s actions, but when it comes to us, we think it’s all about our intention, our effort, our desire, our agency — we think we sort of float above all these kinds of constraints.”

We don’t.

Our true human nature is what lies at the heart of the human problem since the Fall to sin of the first man and woman. Instead of being such altruistic creatures, here’s a few snippets of how the Bible describes our human nature:

“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?” Jeremiah 17:9.

“And then he added, ‘It is what comes from inside that defiles you. For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you,'” Mark 7:20-23.

“For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard,” Romans 3:23.

It wasn’t always that way.

Well, for all of us but two it was. We have to go back to the beginning of humanity, when God had just created the first man and woman, to find two human beings without a human nature corrupted by sin. Adam and Eve were holy — without sin — and the choice to sin would bring the corruption of sin to all of us who would come later.

It was sin — that lack of holiness — that broke humanity’s relationship with God, so to be reconciled to God, we would have to be made holy. God would make that possible through Christ, and if you notice in scripture’s record of that first Christmas, the angel Gabriel reveals in his words to Mary how God reinstates holiness back into human nature:

“The angel replied, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God,” Luke 1:35.

That baby being formed in Mary’s womb was fully God … and fully human … and fully holy!

Jesus, being fully human, would live the holy life we were supposed to live, and then offered that perfectly holy life as a sacrifice on our behalf so that we, too, could become holy:

“For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy,” Hebrews 10:14.

“For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross. This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault,” Colossians 1:19-22.

Now, having been made holy through Christ, the Bible commands us as God’s children and disciples of Jesus to live holy lives:

“Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord,” Hebrews 12:14.

“Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit. And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God,” 2 Corinthians 7:1.

“So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, ‘You must be holy because I am holy,'” 1 Peter 1:14-16.

Scotty