The Third Dimension

“But when the set time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.” - Galatians 4:4-5

There are times in life when you just don’t know what to expect. Entering a new relationship, starting a new job, moving to a new city, and many other life events put us right in the middle of new circumstances. It can be fun and exciting to discover a “new normal.” However, it can also be quite challenging. One of the biggest struggles in many marriages is unrealistic expectations – thinking things are going to be one way when in reality they are not that way at all.

There is one relationship, however, that will always exceed all expectations – and that is your relationship with Jesus Christ. He is better than anyone could ever imagine Him to be. Many people tend to look at Jesus in only one dimension at Christmastime – as a baby in a manger. There are two equally dangerous things that we can do with Jesus, and these are done a lot. Except for one Sunday a year, called Easter, we tend to leave Jesus on a cross. Then, when Christmas comes, we tend to leave Him in a cradle.

It is important that we not see Christmas in one, or even in two, dimensions. In order to see Christmas the way that God sees it, we must view it in all three of its dimensions. The first dimension is the promise of a coming Messiah that God made all the way back in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve first sinned (Genesis 3:15). The second dimension of Christmas is the expectation and anticipation – the advent – of that promise being fulfilled…which it was in the birth of Jesus 2,000 years ago.

There is a third dimension of Christmas that shows us this promise of a Messiah was kept and that it exceeded all expectations. To see this dimension of Christmas, we can go to a letter called, Galatians, written by the Apostle Paul in 50 A.D. This letter contains the theology of Christmas – why Christmas happened and what it truly means. Christmas is more than angels, shepherds, stars, and wise men. The third dimension of Christmas shows us that Jesus came as a child of an earthly mother so that we could become children of a Heavenly Father.

Father, Thank You for sending Christ to make a way for me to be Your child. 

In Jesus’ Name, Amen.