In the last lines of the last verse of one of the most common Christmas songs, Joy To The World, we sing this repeated phrase: “… and wonders of his love, and wonders of his love, and wo-onders, wo-onders of His love.”  Can you hear it?

…AND WONDERS OF HIS LOVE.

Most often I would imagine, we think of the wonders of his love being shown in that Jesus sacrificed His life for us on the cross. Indeed, that kind of sacrificial love should cause us all to wonder every day of our lives! As we near the celebration of Christmas, however, we think of the love He has shown by coming to live in our world, in the flesh. Every other god is a distant god…a god that does not come close, but in fact, requires it’s worshippers to achieve all they can to somehow work their way close. But the God of the Bible came close to us.

Now THAT is something to wonder about!

God came so close that He:

• lived in a womb for nine months. Wonder.
• experienced every aspect of life from birth until he died at 33. Wonder!
• learned everything from how to eat, walk, and talk to raising up a group of men who would change the world. Wonder again!!
• loved and was loved by family, friends, and complete strangers. Wonder.
• touched a man with leprosy when everyone else sought to chase the leper away. Wonder!
• welcomed tax collectors, prostitutes, and all other sinners. Wonder!!
• on the night of His betrayal, spoke to His betrayer calling him “friend.” Wonder again!!!

God came close, so very close.

Fear did not hold Him back; love propelled Him forward.

Over the next few days, you may have the opportunity to be close to people you love. On the other hand, you may have the challenge of being close to people you don’t even enjoy. And there are others of you who can only wish for that experience of closeness once again.

Whatever your case may be, I still invite you to wonder.

God came close to us, so that we might know the experience of being close to Him and shown how to be close to others.

The prayer I have for my self and each of you this coming year, is:

– that we might come to know and experience His closeness at least a bit if not a lot more, than we do today. Be patient, however, with the process. Relationships take time. In the first stanza of the song I mentioned earlier in this post, Joy To The World, one of the lines you will remember is:  “…let every heart, prepare Him room.” That’s what you and I must do more of this coming year–prepare more room for Him in our busy lives and restless hearts. And when we do, the closeness we may feel might just cause us all the more to experience the “wonders of His love!”

 

Merry Christmas from all of us at PLEDGEtalk!