We just gave our two-year-old grandson an early Christmas present - it's a charming children's Nativity. As soon as he opened it, he started arranging Baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the shepherds and the animals exactly where he thought they should be.When I looked at his finished work, I thought, "This little guy gets it."
He had all the people and all the animals lined up in a single row. They were all facing Jesus!
This comes on the same day I read the USA Today headline that says, "For many, Jesus isn't the reason for the season" - based on a disturbing new survey that seems to prove it.
But they didn't talk to my grandson when they wrote that headline. Or to countless millions of us who have turned our lives to face Jesus. We know that the helpless, wrinkled little hands of that baby in the manger are the hands that created 100 billion galaxies. Hands that would one day be pierced through with nails as He took our hell to give us His heaven.
And so our hearts belong to this Jesus. We stand facing Him, in awe of Him.
But look just beyond the manger and the cross. You'll see a world with their backs turned to Him. We will not rest until they're facing Jesus, too. They've never really seen our Jesus. It's up to each of us to give them that chance - as someone once gave us that chance.
For everything their souls are starved for resides in that Baby in the manger. But they're lost. They'll need someone to lead them to Him. Someone who knows Who He is. Someone like you.
But, then, Christmas is really all about a Baby who came to die so we could live. And I'll never stop thanking Him that He saw that lost little family in a second floor apartment on the south side of Chicago. And sent a missionary - my brother - who never spoke a word to give us Jesus.