Pastor's Page (Advent): Near to the Heart of God

This is a short devotional formatted to fit a church bulletin page (in a large print font) which churches may freely reproduce, if the blog address is cited.

God is so, so very different from us: all knowing, all powerful, all wise, all holy. Yet, we were created "in his image." This means we have some things in common. In particular, God created us as persons, not as things or objects. He created us as thinking and reasoning beings. He created us as relational beings. He created us to have a right relationship with him as thinking persons who are free to act in this Creator-creature relationship. And there is one more thing about this relationship: it involves God's deep love for us.

The sad thing about this relationship is that we have all acted contrary to God's intentions. We have personally sinned against him. We have personally rebelled against his will. We have personally insulted the Spirit of his grace. As such, we have alienated ourselves from our Creator, and this torments our souls.

The Good News about Christmas is that God did not leave us in our alienation. At the right time, God came so close to us as to become one of us, through the incarnation of his Son, Jesus Christ. By doing so, he showed us his own desire to restore a right relationship with us. Christ came so that we may once again come near to the heart of God.