The wonder of Christmas is that the God Who lived with us can now live within us. – Roy Lessin

What’s your favorite Christmas movie? No Christmas is complete for me without watching It’s a Wonderful Life and A Christmas Carol. More than I want to admit it though, I have to work so that I’m not a bit of a Luther Krank from Christmas with the Kranks. 

Don’t get me wrong. I love Christmas! It’s just that all of the commercialization wearies me. Personally, I think there should be an unwritten law that stores can’t put up Christmas decorations until after Halloween and radio stations shouldn’t play Christmas music until after Thanksgiving. Thank goodness for Spotify because after having my ears egg nogged for weeks, I’m about ready to boil someone in figgy pudding. 

The whole premise of Christmas with the Kranks is that without their daughter, Blair, who’s away on a Peace Corps assignment in Peru, they decided to skip it all and head out for a Caribbean cruise…until they found out on Christmas Eve that their only child was coming home. Everything changed in a split second. Isn’t that the way that we can get back the wonder of Christmas – a child who has already come, God’s Son. 

Like Luther Krank, as we grow older, it’s easy to lose our sense of wonder of God the Son coming here. The novelty of Christmas starts to wear off. Our wonder gets trampled under the weight of responsibilities, the rush of preparations, and, even at times, the heaviness that comes on those of us for whom the holidays bring back sadness of someone missing. 

The remedy for our lost sense of wonder isn’t more expensive presents, having flashier decorations, or inviting the right people to our parties. It’s certainly not imbibing too much. The cure for Christmas apathy and even peevishness is to step back and remember what we’ve forgotten. 

Like a relationship that’s lost its spark or a hobby that’s lost our interest, we must take the time and effort to see what’s right in front of us with fresh eyes. We need to get back our sense of wonder that God left the glories of heaven to come to our sin-contaminated world as a helpless infant. That’s a reason for wonder. If anyone has a recovery program, it’s us, the church.

Advent means “appearing” from the Latin word adventus. God appeared here in human flesh. Christmas is our time to look back with wonder at Jesus’ birth, while looking forward with anticipation to His return at the end of human history. Christmas is about wonder! 

At Christmas we remember the wonder of the Incarnation.

In the incarnation God became flesh and blood like us. God chose to share our humanity and make Himself one with us. At this point the mind stops, being overwhelmed by the mystery, the staggering condescension. As Martin Luther wrote: “The mystery of the humanity of Christ, that He sunk Himself into our flesh, is beyond all human understanding.” 

And it wasn’t a temporary association. Jesus literally became a man forever. For all eternity, Jesus is man, a fact which staggers our minds. In this very moment Jesus Christ is the man and the glory—true deity, true humanity. As such He could be our example. He could show us, teach us and, most of all, He could die for us. He was born to live and born to die.

The wonder of the incarnation means that Christ knows, understands and commiserates with us. He’s not untouched with the feelings of our infirmities. We have a Savior who is one with God and one with us.

At Christmas we remember the wonder of His birth.

Every birth is a wonderful event. The birth of Christ had been foretold by the prophets for centuries. To the fallen pair in the Garden, God revealed Hope was coming to fix their mess. To Abraham, God revealed the nation through which Jesus would come. To Jacob, He revealed that the coming King would come from the tribe of Judah. To Isaiah, God mentioned a family, the line of Jesse. To Micah, God whispered the name of the city. To Daniel, God revealed the time of His birth. Events leading up to the birth of Jesus were like gears of a fine watch that had to mesh together so that when the fullness of time was come, Jesus was born in Bethlehem. What a wonder!

At Christmas we remember His wonderful ways.

A manger? Wow! That’s not how a king enters the world. It seems so contrary to what Mary might have expected, in giving birth to the Son of the Most High, who was destined to reign. How reassuring it must have been to hear from the shepherds that the manger was the angels’ sign to them. It’s not surprising that Mary treasured it all in her heart as she reflected on God’s ways. 

God’s people want confirmation we’re in His will, yet we don’t expect it to come through disappointment, hardship or suffering – like a manger! It fills us with wonder that when we don’t understand the twists and turns of life, God sees us, knows all about us, and He is never taken by surprise!

At Christmas we remember His wonderful works.

It’s beyond words. Everywhere Jesus went, He did good. To the blind He said, “Receive your sight.” To the lame, “Rise up and walk.” He stopped funeral processions and raised the dead back to life. No doctors, no clinical analysis, no specialists. The Lord Jesus just spoke and it happened.

Christmas reminds us that God is in control. He has a plan – a big plan for the whole world and will move heaven and earth to accomplish it. Look how He orchestrated angels, wise men and even a star for the birth of Jesus. He led Caesar Augustus, emperor of the known world who himself was declared a son of god to call a census that would take Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem fulfilling His Word. Though wars, famines and global catastrophes fill our news, we don’t need to be alarmed. We know the One who is in control, even when the world seems to be spinning out of control. 

At Christmas we remember His wonderful love.

How do you describe a sunset to a blind person? How do you describe Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus to a deaf one? How do you describe the thrill of downhill skiing to one who’s never walked? How do you describe the impeccable, infinite love of God to sinful, finite humans? One of the most vivid characteristics of God is that He is a God of love. God doesn’t just love; He is love. Love isn’t merely one of his attributes. It’s His very nature. 

John wrote, And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in Him (1 John 4:16). God is love means that God wants the very best for us. God has our best interest in mind.

God is love is why He came to earth not just to be born but to die, die for our sins. If you ever wonder if God loves you look to the cross of Christ. The cross is God’s way of saying, “I love you this much,” with His arms outstretched. God’s final words to us are etched on that Roman cross. They say, “I love you.” This is the great wonder of Christmas: through His death we find forgiveness, cleansing and eternal life in heaven. 

So, let’s remember the Wonders of Christ’s coming!The greatest wonder is that “Jesus loves me” and you!