This is a paraphrased story that I heard on the radio titled "If only" by David Crabtree. Some of you may have heard it . For those who haven't, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
John approached his wife to break the news to her, "I not going to the Christmas eve service at the church with you this year. You know that I have never really believed all of that Jesus being God and coming to Earth as a man stuff. It would just be hypocritical of me to go."
John's wife was disappointed, but understood his point. She loaded up the kids and left without him.
John was sitting in a chair by the fireplace reading a book when he heard a thump behind him. He looked around the room but didn't see anything and turned back to his book. Then there was another thump, and then another.
John got up and walked over to the large window. Outside the window were several small birds flopping around in the snow after trying to fly through the window in search of warmth and shelter. John couldn't stand to see the birds out there in the cold, he knew that they would die in the cold if he didn't do something. So, he slipped on his boots and his coat and went out into the snow.
He went to his barn, opened the doors wide and turned on the light, but the birds payed it no mind. He then went into the house and brought out some bread that he crumbled and made a trail into the barn, but the birds ignored the bread. Running out of ideas and desperate to save the lives of the birds, he opened his coat and tried to herd the birds into the barn, but they just fled in different directions.
John realized that the birds were terrified of him and all of his attempts to reach out to them and save their lives just frightened them even more causing them to run from him.
"If only I could become a bird and could communicate with the birds, if I could speak their language I could fly down among them and tell them how to be saved. If only I were a bird..." he thought to himself.
At that very moment, as John helplessly watched the birds flopping around in the snow , the church bells began to ring loud and clear. John heard the bells and realized in that moment that he was one of those birds. He was flopping around in the snow of his life, bound to die with no hope of salvation. But Jesus did what he wanted to do. God came to Earth as a man named Jesus so that we wouldn't be afraid, speaking our language so that we would understand how to get to the salvation that waits in the barn. In that moment, John understood and fell to his knees right there in the snow and prayed for the salvation that Jesus came to provide.
If you have struggled with the concept of God taking the form of a man in order to save you, I hope that this story clarifies things for you. Again, as soon as I find who the writer of the story is and it's original name, I'll post it (and a link if possible) so that you can hear the original.
John approached his wife to break the news to her, "I not going to the Christmas eve service at the church with you this year. You know that I have never really believed all of that Jesus being God and coming to Earth as a man stuff. It would just be hypocritical of me to go."
John's wife was disappointed, but understood his point. She loaded up the kids and left without him.
John was sitting in a chair by the fireplace reading a book when he heard a thump behind him. He looked around the room but didn't see anything and turned back to his book. Then there was another thump, and then another.
John got up and walked over to the large window. Outside the window were several small birds flopping around in the snow after trying to fly through the window in search of warmth and shelter. John couldn't stand to see the birds out there in the cold, he knew that they would die in the cold if he didn't do something. So, he slipped on his boots and his coat and went out into the snow.
He went to his barn, opened the doors wide and turned on the light, but the birds payed it no mind. He then went into the house and brought out some bread that he crumbled and made a trail into the barn, but the birds ignored the bread. Running out of ideas and desperate to save the lives of the birds, he opened his coat and tried to herd the birds into the barn, but they just fled in different directions.
John realized that the birds were terrified of him and all of his attempts to reach out to them and save their lives just frightened them even more causing them to run from him.
"If only I could become a bird and could communicate with the birds, if I could speak their language I could fly down among them and tell them how to be saved. If only I were a bird..." he thought to himself.
At that very moment, as John helplessly watched the birds flopping around in the snow , the church bells began to ring loud and clear. John heard the bells and realized in that moment that he was one of those birds. He was flopping around in the snow of his life, bound to die with no hope of salvation. But Jesus did what he wanted to do. God came to Earth as a man named Jesus so that we wouldn't be afraid, speaking our language so that we would understand how to get to the salvation that waits in the barn. In that moment, John understood and fell to his knees right there in the snow and prayed for the salvation that Jesus came to provide.
If you have struggled with the concept of God taking the form of a man in order to save you, I hope that this story clarifies things for you. Again, as soon as I find who the writer of the story is and it's original name, I'll post it (and a link if possible) so that you can hear the original.
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ReplyDeleteThis is a powerful story that so vividly illustrates what God has done for mankind. If you read in the Bible about man's encounters with God, before Jesus was born, you find that most of the time the person encountering God was terror struck. God is so far above us that we usually fail to understand Him and find His glory and power to be a very scary thing. God demands that we respect Him, just as any child should respect and be a bit fearful of their father's authority. But, mostly, God wants to make Himself known to mankind and for mankind to love Him as their Father. That is why God took on the form of a man, the God-man, Jesus. As a man, God could make Himself known to mankind without the terror associated with encountering God in person! Jesus lived among us, experienced life as we know it-without sin, talked to us, laughed with us, cried with us, and died on our behalf to pay the penalty, which is eternal death, for our personal sins. But, being God, death could not hold Him, and on the 1st day of the week, following His death, He retured from the dead and TOOK His life back. He overcame death itself on our behalf, so that we too could overcome death, and have eternal life, with a glorified body, with Him in His kingdom. That is what Christmas is all about-the birth of the God-man, Jesus Christ, who came to earth in the form of a man, for no other reason than to reconcile sinful man to God. "Greater love has no man than this, that he should lay down his life for a friend."
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