Deck the Halls...with Grace!

Luke 2:4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.

5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born,  7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

No fanfare.  No Santa’s.  No blinking lights and tinsel.  Here we arrive at just a quiet stable cave and a feedbox—the original Christmas.  No wish lists. No blaring music or irritating advertising.  Just peace at the end of the labor of childbirth, as Grace Himself, came into the world.  No decorations. No icicle lights on their cave or lighted deer in the front yard.  No ringing bells. No trumpets. Nothing.  Except Grace.  The Grace of a God who would leave the treasures of heaven for the filth of this earth.  Grace that would step out of eternity into time in order to allow us to step out of time into eternity with Him.  Grace that loved His creation so much that He would rather die than live without us.  He would rather risk having us reject Him for eternity, than know that He could have done something to rescue us, but didn’t.

You see, when Jesus came, He decked the halls of this world with nothing more and nothing less than Grace.  He splashed grace around as He decorated lives with it.  The colors of grace brightened the crowds after He had passed by. The touch of grace was felt on the hand of a little dead girl and she lived once again.   The sounds of grace filled the ears of those who heard, “Neither do I condemn you.”  Or “Go in peace, your faith has made you well.”  The smell of grace was in the air as the rotting, oozing flesh of lepers was suddenly fresh and clean.  And the taste of grace filled the stomachs of at least 5,000, not to mention the 12 at the last supper.  Everywhere Jesus went, he decorated lives with grace.  And there is nothing more beautiful than a grace-filled life.

There is nothing so amazing as seeing one who has been caked with the filth of sin suddenly clean.  Nothing so lovely as seeing one who has suffered unimaginable abuse suddenly free to sing.  Nothing quite so attractive as a once-harsh life, now softened and considerate of others.  There is nothing so appealing as a grace-filled, gracious person.

And that’s why He came.  That’s what gets lost in the celebration of our times.  That’s what the ads cover up and the commercialism smothers.  That’s what the frenetic pace causes us to forget.  That God decorated our lives with grace, and wants us to extend that same grace to others.  He wants us to realize each Christmas that He is actually calling  us to help Him decorate for the season!  He wants us to actually be a seasoning for the season.  To be people who have been changed by grace, and can joyfully splash his grace around a graceless world.  To be so changed by his grace that your very being is different from those in the world around you, and you can’t help decking the halls with His grace.