Immanuel. God With Us.

"Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel" (which means God with us)." Matthew 1:23

I love the word Immanuel. In one word it sums up life.

Immanuel. God with us.

Life is not about living for God. It is about living with God.

I am not sure why humans like to make simple things complicated, but we seem to. We endlessly define and quantify right behavior, but trying to live a good life above all else is not Christian. Every other religion defines right behavior and encourages followers to live good lives. Christianity is different.

God himself came to us. That is Christmas. Jesus paid the highest price possible in order to make it possible for us to be with him with no barrier in between. Because of Jesus' birth, death, and resurrection we get to live life with him. All we have to do is accept the Christmas present God gave us.

Immanuel. God with us.

When we have accepted life with him, we will want to live like lovers committed to a life together. Lovers want to be near their beloved. Lovers want to please their beloved.

God is with us and we want to be as close to him as we can.

Immanuel! God with us!

Merry, Merry Christmas!