A Baby Changes Everything

A few months back some friends of ours had their first child.  It has been fun to watch how this baby has changed their life. In 2008, Faith Hill came out with a Christmas Album with this title as one of its songs. “A Baby Changes Everything“.  The baby her song is about was born over 2000 years ago.

His name is Jesus.

A Baby Changes Everything
Whether you believe in God or not, there is no denying the birth of Jesus did change our world. Click To Tweet

Whether you believe in God or not, there is no denying the birth of Jesus did change our world. As a historical individual, his birth now separates our calendar. BC/AD. Before Christ and anno domini or In the Year of our Lord.  His teaching has had huge influence on the formation of our culture and society. Those of the Christian faith also declare he came to save the world from their sins. I believe all of these to be true but there is something that sometimes gets overlooked.

Jesus came to fulfill a promise God made to the world. A promise to be fulfilled through the Jewish nation, Israel, but meant for the entire world. That promise was that God was going to come back to redeem his people (human kind) from the slavery inflicted on all of creation as a result of Adam and Eve yielding to a temptation. To go against God’s direct command to not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. They made the choice they were able to decide what is good and what is evil in the world. Seems like this is something we still try to do. To whose standard of good? How well has that worked out?

But lets back the story up just a little bit.

The bible gives an account of creation in the first part of the book, Genesis. Its a pretty incredible story! Some of you might decide to stop reading right now because you don’t believe in creation or God. You might say this because you don’t think there is proof of either. Belief can also be based on the evidence available and I think there is plenty of evidence pointing to the truth of the biblical account.

But, even Christians debate what Genesis is saying. Some believe it needs to be taken literally (whole process took 7 days) and some believe otherwise. This writer has considered creation vs the alternatives and decided the length of time creation took is irrelevant to this conversation. What is relevant is that Genesis describes who God is and what his creation meant to him. He has also come to the conclusion God’s story, as told by the bible, makes the most sense and offers us all hope, through love, there is something better for our life.

When God created the world and mankind, Genesis 1-2, He intended to live with his creation in a relationship based on the love of a father and the love of a child. Mankind was created in God’s image. However, that doesn’t mean he looks like you or me. It means he gave us the responsibility of caring for and overseeing all of his creation for the benefit of all. But this relationship got messed up because of mankind’s (Adam and Eve’s) decision. They decided they could determine what is good and what is evil.

From that moment on, seeking the advantage over others has been taking place in our world. It started with Cain and Abel. Good and evil are also referred as justice and injustice. For a simple and excellent explanation of Justice, Click here.  In that short video they talk about righteousness and justice. Righteousness meaning the way we are to treat each other. With respect and love. Clearly, there is not going to be enough room to answer the magnitude of questions that could come up on this topic but suffice to say that God had a plan to make things right. To make us all righteous.

So back to the story of a baby.

God’s plan was to send a king to set his people free. The Jewish nation Israel waited hundreds of years for the fullness of the promise. Jesus is that king who fulfills but his coming wasn’t what people expected. Just as today, many miss his message of love and hope. Some pervert the message into one of hate and fear. Of rules and judgement. Self Righteousness.  The truth is, His coming was the announcement God had come again to establish a new creation on earth. Providing a way for all people to be reconciled to him. Recreated in his image and to be a part of a new kingdom. God’s kingdom. Where Jesus is king and rules through love.

We who believe are charged with the same objective as always intended.  To love God, to love each other and to care for his creation. This is what God was doing when he sent a baby to change the world. Following all the rules won’t ever help me be good enough.  I am only good enough because God had the idea he would come and redeem his creation by sending his king as a baby. The most vulnerable of humans.

I like the song Noel  by Lauren Daigle. A line in the chorus says “Come and See what God has done” This is the invitation he has sent to the world and one we will all need to respond to. Either with a yes or no. Jesus was the baby who changes everything.

So Have a Merry Christmas! Come and See what God has done! 

 

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