This Christmas

This is an amazing time of year to worship God for the gift of Jesus Christ. "Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." - Philippians 2:9-11

In the end, Jesus was triumphant. But his first entrance into this world was a different story.

Not only was he born into poverty - born to un-wed parents, born in a cattle stall, with his first crib as a feeding trough - but he also entered this world as a baby.

A baby is about the most helpless stage of life that exists. A baby is 100% dependent on others to care for him or her. And the Creator of the universe who sustains the universe and everything in it by the word of his power (Hebrews 1:3), was willing to enter this world as a needy, completely dependent baby. And he did it for our sake. Because he knew one day, he would be highly exalted and every knee would bow before him.

Knowing of that great humble love towards us should make us humble.

So when I think about the mission of SOS - that we exist to glorify God by proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ in word and deed through urban home repair camps - I ask myself:

How are we putting ourselves in a place of helplessness for the benefit of others? How are we giving up our advantages and privileges so that others might have advantages? Are we willing to enter into a place of discomfort so that others might be comforted?

After all, that's exactly what Jesus did for us. And it began long before the cross. It began at his birth.

Let us pray that God would use SOS to point others to that sacrificial love. And let us pray also that God would give us each individually the grace and experience of His love we need in order to give of ourselves for the benefit of others.

Have a Merry Christmas, Philip