“Going through a long line of prophets, God has been addressing our ancestors in different ways for centuries. Recently he spoke to us directly through his Son. By his Son, God created the world in the beginning, and it will all belong to the Son at the end. This Son perfectly mirrors God, and is stamped with God’s nature. He holds everything together by what he says—powerful words!” (Hebrews 1:1-3 MSG)

Once again this Christmas, I have been spending time thinking about Jesus being born as a baby. He arrived no bigger or more developmentally advanced than my grandson Noah. His mom and dad had to take care of Him 24 hours a day, seven days a week in a very challenging environment. And then, when He was 33 years old, He died by crucifixion. Why did He come? In Christian theology what is discussed most often about Jesus’ life from birth to crucifixion is that He came to be a sacrifice for the sins of mankind against God. Another reason is that Jesus came to demonstrate for us how to reflect the nature of God in a human body, from birth to death. His every behavior, attitude, and action reflected God’s character qualities in real time in a real community.

Originally, God created us to reflect His nature:

“God spoke: “Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature So they can be responsible for the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle, And, yes, Earth itself, and every animal that moves on the face of Earth.” God created human beings; he created them godlike, Reflecting God’s nature. He created them male and female. God blessed them: “Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge! Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air, for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth.” ” (Genesis 1:26-28 MSG)

In many ways, we have fallen short. In spite of our best efforts to build social and religious systems to regulate ourselves, we mistreat each other and the world God created. Jesus came to restore the simplicity of reflecting God’s nature. The simplicity is not in adhering to a man-made system. The simplicity is in BEING. If our BEING reflects God’s nature our DOING will as well.

This Christmas season I want to focus my attention on reflecting God’s nature in my BEING. The DOING will follow.

Merry Christmas!