WHAT’S YOUR ANSWER TO THE CHRISTMAS EVE QUESTION?

How quickly Christmas has come and gone.  Decorations are once again hibernating on their shelf in the garage.  Two potted poinsettias, like silent sentinels, still “stand guard” by the front door, the only visible reminder Christmas has ever been here.

Swirling in my head is one last reminder of Christmas and I cannot put it away just yet. It is the question the pastor asked at the church service on Christmas Eve.  Whatever else he said that evening is now forgotten, but the question lingers.  It is not for me alone.  Humankind has always wrestled with it and now I ask it of you even as I ask it of myself.

“How close do you want to come to the manger?”

Look past the shepherds and the sheep, past the wood and the straw.  Do you really see the baby in the manger?  He is no ordinary child. He is God, deliberately inhabiting a human body.  He will live about thirty-three years, and will face temptation, rejection, persecution, and death.  Because He is God in heaven before coming to earth, He knows how difficult His life on earth will be.  He also knows the sinless life He will live makes Him the only One qualified to pay the penalty for the sins of all people.  To do that, He will have to die an agonizing death on a cross, but because He loves us so much, He will do so – willingly.  He did not come into the world to condemn it, but to give us an opportunity for a relationship with Him. And so I ask.

“How close do you want to come to the manger?”

Do you want to come close enough for a quick glimpse of the baby and acknowledge He was really born?

Do you want to come close enough to see the baby and believe He is God, but continue to ignore Him and any influence He might have on your life?

Or do you want to come so close you can embrace Him, ask Him to forgive your sins and take Him into your heart?  This is what He would like you to do!  This is why He came to earth, for a relationship with you.

Right now He lovingly whispers in your ear, “What is your answer to the Christmas Eve question?  How close do you want to come to the manger?”

Reprint: This article has appeared in the Church of God Evangel Magazine, December 2005 and in Purpose Magazine (date in the future)