Unwrapped

We were delighted with the gifts of yesterday, all wrapped in their sparkly papers and crisp ribbons.  We knew that presents purchased for us by ones we love would likely be something nice.  There was probably anticipation as a package rested on our lap and we began to unwrap it to get to the box, then through the tissue to the gift itself.  Ribbon and paper and tape and tissue are not too intimidating, but getting to the Greatest Gift often is. 

To find the Christ, we have to be willing to be unwrapped ourselves, not of ribbon, but of resistance, not of paper, but of pride, not of tape, but of treachery, and not of tissue, but to finally be willing to deal with our trust, deciding if we will offer it to Him or not.  We have to be open to inviting Him into the dung and straw reality of our lives, things we’d honestly prefer not to even look at ourselves.  But that we must as we acknowledge our need of a Savior.  He will come their gently but firmly, then call us from those things.

His wrapping is also an obstacle.  Bloody and ripped He trudged, then hung with robes already torn away and cast aside.  The circlet of blossoms that rightly should have adorned Him had already had the stems handled angrily enough to leave no delicate petals, but only piercing thorns.  He hung there not looking at all like an ornament on a tree, though He was Heaven's finest.  His most victorious moment was utterly unrecognizable because He was so enfolded in our sin.  We thought it was His humanity that made Him look so ghastly, when really it was ours.

We have to be willing both to be unwrapped and to draw close to the powerful heart of who He really is.  And even as we continue through our lives to keep unwrapping this endless Gift (as He unwraps us to increasing freedom), we will find that there is something magnificent and dazzling to continually behold there.  We won’t see it fully until we finish our race, but there are many signs, deep assurances, and golden threads that will miraculously be woven through our lives as we discover His goodness and His strength.  How He does it, I don't understand, but I have seen it over and over again.

For those who stay with the journey of faith, we will find the deep peace and great joy of knowing Him and being known—the gift of Emanuel, God with us, the breach of Eden firmly resolved to allow mankind to walk with God again.