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“Christmas commemorates the day and the way God saved us from ourselves.”

A thought by Max Lucado (2016-09-13) from his book, Because of Bethlehem (with Bonus Content): Love Is Born, Hope Is Here (p. 27). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

Now this is one of the main if not the main reason for Christmas.

Max says, “Our parents didn’t teach us to throw temper tantrums; we were born with the skill. No one showed us how to steal a cookie from our sibling; we just knew. We never attended a class on pouting or passing the blame, but we could do both before we were out of our diapers. The heart of the human problem is the problem of the human heart.”

Max goes on, “Each one of us entered the world with a sin nature. God entered the world to take it away. Christmas commemorates the day and the way God saved us from ourselves.”

“Look carefully at the words the angel spoke to Joseph. Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. (Matt. 1: 20– 21)”

“We may not see the connection between the name Jesus and the phrase ‘save his people from their sins,’ but Joseph would have. He was familiar with the Hebrew language. The English name Jesus traces its origin to the Hebrew word Yeshua. Yeshua is a shortening of Yehoshuah, which means ‘Yahweh saves.’”

He continues, “Who was Jesus? God saves. What did Jesus come to do? God saves. God saves. Jesus was not just godly, godlike, God hungry, God focused, or God worshipping. He was God. Not merely a servant of God, instrument of God, or friend of God, but Jesus was God.”

Max says, “God saves, not God empathizes, cares, listens, helps, assists, or applauds. God saves. Specifically, ‘he will save his people from their sins’ (v. 21). Jesus came to save us, not just from politics, enemies, challenges, or difficulties. He came to save us from our own sins.”

That can be such good news for all of us.  “He came to save us from our own sins.


Why not ask him to do that for you right now?
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