Merry Christmas!

This morning I read two different blogs that dealt with the amazing truth of the incarnation. (You can read those here and here.) Immediately I thought of my friend Emerald, who rejected Christ several years ago. When she told me about her decision, it was on the basis of the incarnation. She would not accept that the all-powerful God who created the universe could limit Himself to experience thirst and hunger. How could a transcendent God need food? Who could imagine God falling asleep in a boat?

When we celebrate Christmas, we are celebrating this truth that my friend turned away from. We celebrate the Word made flesh and come to live among men. Every one of us understands the reason for Christmas, but I personally don't believe I spend quite enough time pondering all the implications of this miracle. Jesus allowed Himself to feel the limitations of a human body. Yet it is precisely this concept of incarnation that repels so many of our Muslim acquaintances. What we celebrate as the glorious, miraculous foundation of our faith they reject as an illogical absurdity at best, and blasphemy at worst.

As we prepare to go back overseas, please pray that the Holy Spirit would do the work of opening blinded eyes and softening hardened hearts. We can't convince a Muslim to believe that God Himself would take on flesh, experience fatigue, hunger, thirst, pain, and eventually death and resurrection because He loves them. We can only share that truth, love them, and pray that they will see Jesus with eyes of faith.