In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus .... (Luke 2:1a)
Are you a perfectionist? Do you lose sleep because of that one burned out light bulb on your roof? Are you horrified at the bare spot on your Christmas tree? Do you think God is a perfectionist like that?
Consider the first Christmas. Mary's pregnancy was progressing nicely. Joseph had been ready to divorce her when he first discovered she was pregnant, but God the Father sent an angel in a dream who told him Mary was pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit (see Matthew 1:18-25). With Joseph at Mary's side, everything was falling into place to welcome God's Son into the world, except for one tiny little detail.
Through the prophet Micah God had promised His Son would be born in David's hometown of Bethlehem. Mary was 80 miles away in Nazareth. If God the Father had overlooked this small detail our Savior's birthplace would have been Nazareth and Micah's prophecy would have proven false. But God is the ultimate perfectionist, so He worked through the Roman Emperor to get Joseph and Mary down to Bethlehem to fulfill Micah's promise.
Did you notice I called God the ultimate perfectionist? God is absolutely perfect and He demands absolute perfection of us. He can't ignore any sin, no matter how small it may appear to us. Thankfully, God is also a God of love, grace and mercy. Our Father sent His Son to live the perfect life we can't live-and credits His perfection to us. And He laid every one of our sins on His Son so that He could suffer and die in our place. Because of His life, death and resurrection, we are free to live with Him in heaven forever.
PRAYER: Son of God, thank You for fulfilling all Your Father's righteous demands for me. You are the source of my peace this Christmas, and always. Amen.
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