What is your favorite name for Jesus?
As many families do, we have a set of Christmas ornaments with various names of Jesus.
Almighty God, Prince of Peace, I AM, Jehovah, Advocate, Bread of Life, Son of God, Shepherd, Deliverer, Living Water, Judge of Israel, Lawgiver, Way Maker, Alpha and Omega, etc.
(*cough* that’s a lot of names for someone who isn’t even God….)
My favorite name is Immanuel. I’ve always loved the song “O Come, O Come, Immanuel.” But even more so this year, the name Immanuel is resonating so much with me and really touching my soul.
God with us.
I never even knew the implications of that.
God himself actually came to earth in the flesh — a being who did not need mortality, a being who was far too grand and glorious to be in this wicked place. The singular being who actually made this place.
God Himself.
Just like the Book of Mormon says, ironically, in multiple places…
I didn’t realize until this year what condescend actually means.
(Is that a Bible word? I don’t know, but it’s a Book of Mormon word. And I love this concept!)
Can you imagine making something much smaller and cruder than you (don’t get me wrong, the earth is beautiful – but still nothing compared to God’s throne) maybe like three dimensional when you’re used to being twenty four dimensional—
And then it gets ruined against your instruction, and goes to pot—
and then having to get down in it?
How do you fit a larger-than-life being into a little baby’s body?
Ouch.
And how do you squeeze all that glory into a little human?
Yikes.
What if you made a little shoebox dollhouse for your kindergarten art project. And you colored it all day so it was just lovely. And you cut out your cute little paper dolls and made them stand up in that shoebox ….
And then you put yourself into that little paper doll, walked around, and just lived like that?
Not to mention trying to teach these paper people how to think like you. How to grow into something that would be able to transcend their shoebox and live in your own world.
Jesus is God, people! The great being who created everything (and nothing created Him), Who is all powerful (and nothing else is equal to that power), Who has always existed (had no origin). Whoa!
I was never taught this! By my parents, by my church, or even my Christian friends.
Nobody showed me what the Bible says.
So you understand why it’s so important to me to show others who don’t yet comprehend.
Christmas will be different this year.
The first year in my life that I truly grasp Who came to Earth, and how mind-blowing and awe inspiring that really is!!
All I Possess 