celebrate the new arrival. Wraps were taken to the bedroom. A fter everyone got there, introductions were appropri ately made. Then someone enthusiastic ally requested, “Well, let’s see the baby! Bring him out!” But the infant had d isapp ea red ! Horrified, the mother ran back to the living room. It seemed unbelievable. A frantic search began throughout the house. The newborn child couldn’t walk or crawl. Then someone thought to look underneath the coats which had been piled high on the bed. Shrieks of horror were heard. Evidently the baby had pulled the blanket over his head so that when the first guest arrived and put down her coat the infant was unnoticed. Covered by so many pieces of apparel, he had now died from suffocation. The party turned into tragedy. Those who were there will doubtless never forget that sad event. But it was nothing new. It has happened again this year. Instead of celebrating the birth of Christ at this season men have so clouded and covered over His majestic coming that the One who is both Gift and Giver has somehow been forgotten. Not wanting the Saviour in their lives, men have tried to smother Him and re move Him from all of their thinking. Scripture puts it this way concerning the Lord: “He came unto His own and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him to them gave He pow er to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name” (John 1 : 11 - 12 ). THE GIFT GF SIGHT There was an obstetrician who ap proached an anxious father. The man was in the waiting room of a New York City hospital. The physician spoke kind ly, “I ’m sorry to inform you, sir, but your baby lived only an hour after its birth. We did everything we could to save its life.” As the sympathetic doc tor started to leave, the quick-thinking father stopped him. He implored, “I read only recently how various parts of the body can be used for transplant operations. Do you suppose there’s any An egotist is a person who is always "me deep" in conversation.
thing of our baby which would allow someone else to live?” What a note of concern during such a trial! The next day the Red Cross carried an eye to two different hospitals. In one a corneal graft restored the sight of a working man who had a large family. In the other, sight was given to a mother whose home and loved ones needed her. Here were a wonderful father and a mother of whom it was interesting to read. But there’s an even more heart touching story than this. Do you know that 2000 years ago God’s own Son came to this sin-darkened world as a baby? By His birth, life, death and resurrection He gives to all who would receive by faith His sacrificial atone ment on Calvary’s cross. It’s a gift, even as was the baby’s cornea. Salva tion for all eternity is wholly and only by grace through faith. A SIMPLE DISTINCTION Everything about this season of the year, spiritually speaking, is exciting and thrilling to contemplate. The or dinary, because it speaks of the Sav iour, is extraordinary. As an example, what biographer would think of wast ing time on that simple phrase of six words declaring, “He was born of a woman.” Of whom have you read a statement like that, except the Lord? The fact is that it was so unusual in Christ’s case that special attention and emphasis made it vital and important. Look at that again: the Bible tells us that He was “made of a woman.” This term made is not ordinarily translated born but rather means to become. This is the same as John’s explanation that “the Word became flesh.” Literally then, we see that our eternal divine Lord came to be in the likeness of men. He became flesh. There’s a fine distinc tion here. The Lord Jesus didn’t come into the flesh. He didn’t cease to be what He had always been, namely deity. Wonder of wonders and miracle of miracles! the Creator Himself had come into this world through the gate way of a creature whom He Himself had made. “He was born of a woman.” 27 It’s better never to have been bom at all than never to have been born again.
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