Immanuel

He. Will. Save.

God. With. Us.

God can't stay away. This is the love story that has been coming for you since the beginning... He is the God that is so FOR us that He can't stay away from us. The God who loves us and likes us and isn't merely 50 percent or 72.3 percent for us, but the God who is always, unequivocally, 100 percent for us - the God who so likes us, the God who is so for us that He is the God who chooses to be WITH us.

He disarms Himself of heaven so that you can take Him in arms on earth.

He comes as a Baby because He's done with the barriers...

God throws open the door of this world and enters as a baby. As the most vulnerable imaginable. Because he wants unimaginable intimacy with YOU.

What religion ever had a god that wanted such intimacy WITH us that He came with such vulnerability TO us? What God ever came so tender we could touch Him? So vulnerable that His bare, beating heart could be hurt? ONLY THE ONE WHO LOVES YOU TO DEATH...

It cost Him everything to be with you. Who will spend a fraction of time just to be with Him? Who wants the gift of His presence?

Christmas is about God's doing whatever it takes to be with us - and our doing whatever it takes to be with Him. He climbed down from the throne in heaven to get to you. CLIMB OVER THE THROES OF CHRISTMAS TO GET TO HIM.

                                                       - Ann Voskamp, "The Greatest Gift"