Reflection
Listen to Today's Reflection →
I would guess I’ve moved 25 times from one home to another, and sometimes that meant moving to a different town. When I was younger, I was just along for the ride because my parents moved for their work. Later in life, it was my choice to move—because of my own job. But every once in a while, you hear of someone relocating almost completely for the benefit of someone else. Maybe one spouse gets a great job, and the other person agrees to move because the person they love has an awesome opportunity. Or maybe someone moves to a different town to help take care of a family member or to help with the kids or grandkids.
While moving—especially far away—can be the right decision, a lot of times it comes with tremendous sacrifice. People leave their friends, their schools, their colleagues. They leave what’s familiar to them: their neighbors, their church, their routine. When they look at what’s needed and how they can help someone else, it’s worth the sacrifice. It’s worth leaving what they knew in the old place to be of service in the new place.
With that in mind, it’s difficult to wrap my head around the sacrifice Jesus made by moving. He relocated from a place next to his heavenly Father, where he had been since the beginning. He not only moved locations, but he changed his entire form. While he would forever be God’s Son, he would take on the form of a human being.
And surely that came with great sacrifice. He subjected himself to all the pain that comes with being a person—physical pain, emotional pain, everyday-life pain. He left his permanent, perfect home and came to this new, temporary home. He sacrificed what he had in order to benefit someone else. He did this to show people what God was really like and to make a way for them to truly know their heavenly Father.
He moved to become our Emmanuel, God with us.
Jesus Hope of Heaven, here to dwell... with us.
So while we see the birth of Jesus as a great gift we celebrate, may we also be reminded that it—just like with most any gift—came with a sacrifice. In this case, it came with great sacrifice. He was the hope of heaven but came here to dwell.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we celebrate the birth of Jesus, but we know for him to become one of us was a great sacrifice. May we follow his lead and be willing to make sacrifices for the sake of others. Amen.
