Splendor

During Christmas at one time or another we are prone to sit back and reflect the greatness of the birth of our Savior. We focus in on the lack of room in the inn and how Mary bore him in a lowly manger. We reflect the wise men and their expensive gifts. We picture the shepherds seeing the angels glorifying God and telling them about the Christ child.

I, on the other hand this Christmas season, have thought about the greatness God gave up by coming down to earth.

"In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon the throne, high and lifted up; and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above Him stood the seraphim...And one called to another and said: 'Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!'"
Isaiah 6:1-3.

"Around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures...And day and night they never cease to say, 'Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!' And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him (which is all the time by the way) who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who is seated on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, "Worthy are You, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and by Your will they existed and were created'"
Revelation 4:6-11.

He gave up constant praise, constant adoration. He gave up perfection and painlessness (in a bodily sense). He gave up comfort. He gave up being right and having everyone not only know it but be ok and enamored by it. Can you imagine?

He gave up gold streets and magnificient robes. He gave up His incredible throne. He gave up a place that adored Him, that worshiped Him, that walked exactly in His ways. He gave up everything. EVERYTHING.

This Christmas season and the rest of the year it's very easy to get bogged down and find how unfair life can be. It's easy to get irritated when someone doesn't pull the weight you've deemed necessary for them or when someone inevitably disappoints you. It's easy to feel entitled to certain perks, benefits or alotments. It's easy to feel sorry for yourself because you're left out by friends, not loved enough by others or somethings has gone terribly off course from your expectations. In all of this however, as big of a deal as we always make it, it's a lot different if you sit back and let the weight of what Christ gave up sink in comparitively to what you feel like you're owed.

I often find myself wanting people to know my value, know how intelligent I am, know what I'm capable of. I want people to honor me and stand in awe when I speak. Christ gave up all of that glory and came down to a world that interrupted Him, cast Him down, spit upon Him, threw things at Him, beat Him and finally nailed Him to a tree to kill Him. The amazing thing to me is that He knew all of that beforehand. He knew as He created the world, as He made the choice to come to earth and die for us even before the world began. He knew He'd have to save us from ourselves. He knew He'd have to cast aside His glory and enter our torn and broken domain. He knew what He'd have to give up and He still came.

Am I willing to give it all up just like Christ did? Am I willing to cast aside my own glory, my own intelligence, my own talents, and love those who might not ever fully appreciate it? Am I willing to do someone else's job and pay someone else's penalty even if I don't have to? He didn't have to, but He did. His life here on earth was very significant but maybe even more significant is the magnitude of the life He gave up so that we instead might have it.