Christmas reveals the practical mind of God …

While it seems some people love drama in their lives, I think most of us appreciate people with a more practical approach to navigating life.

For example, many of us want to get past trying to “engineer” things:

Dr. J.B. Gambrel tells an amusing story from General Stonewall Jackson’s famous valley campaign. Jackson’s army found itself on one side of a river when it needed to be on the other side. After telling his engineers to plan and build a bridge so the army could cross, he called his wagon master in to tell him that it was urgent the wagon train cross the river as soon as possible. The wagon master started gathering all the logs, rocks, and fence rails he could find and built a bridge. Long before daylight General Jackson was told by his wagon master all the wagons and artillery had crossed the river. Jackson asked where are the engineers and what are they doing? The wagon master’s only reply was that they were in their tent drawing up plans for a bridge.

We can philosophize ourselves into deeper trouble than we initially cause if we fail to take practical action in the midst of life’s troubles and trials. This truth reminds me of a story credited to R. Wurmbrand:

There was a party in a lounge. A person asked, “If you were on a ship which sank and you could escape to an isolated island, having the possibility to take only one book from the ship’s library, which one would you choose?” One person answered, “Shakespeare,” another, “the Bible.” But another said, “I would choose a book which could teach me how to make a boat and arrive at the shore. There I would be free to read whatever I like.”

Gotta love practical!

Christmas is a reminder of a very practical side to the mind of God.

So, our relationship with God was broken because of sin … what to do? Humanity was now enslaved to sin, and humanity had to pay its consequences, but human beings weren’t capable of either freeing themselves from the shackles of sin, or its penalty of death.

Here’s God’s practical answer:

“In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God … 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 1:1, 14.

What does a gracious, loving, holy God do when humankind breaks its relationship with Him because of sin, and then becomes enslaved in and from their own sin?

God’s practical answer: Send a Savior.

“When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners,” Romans 5:6.

“This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation,” 2 Corinthians 5:17-19.

Of course, God’s “practical” answer was a truly awesome act — Jesus Christ being born as a human, and demonstrating a love so great that He sacrificed His life so that we could have life, so that we could be free from sin, and so that through His conquering death we could have eternal life.

Very practical, but oh so costly to our Savior.

May we be as practical in our receiving this gift from God, which would be to surrender our lives to Him to be lived as His sons and daughters, and as ambassadors for Jesus:

“My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me,” Galatians 2:20.

“So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, ‘Come back to God!’ For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ,” 2 Corinthians 5:20-21.

Scotty