October is coming to a close, which means Christmas is just around the corner. A friend of mine who works for a major retailer tells me the company prepares all year for Christmas, or what they call “The Event.” “The Event” is their biggest revenue season of the year. But The Event that Christians celebrate at Christmas isn’t about revenue at all. It’s about the greatest gift ever given—Jesus Himself.
Paul says that when the Son of God came from heaven to live among us, He wasn’t motivated by personal gain but by pure kindness and love. Because of that selfless love, we receive the dividends of divine mercy. Without this mercy, we’re left with obedience to God’s law as the only way of salvation. But we’re not up to that task.
Jesus summed up the law as love for God and love for others. He fulfilled both for us when He lived the perfect life of obedience to the Father and when He gave Himself as the perfect sacrifice for sin. It was The Event that brought us redemption, and it means the world to us all year long!