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It matters.
It all matters.
You matter.
To Him.

In these past seasons of disarray in Hong Kong, we’ve needed the reminder that we matter to God. And not just the big stuff, although that’s important. God not only cares infinitely about our salvation but also about all the parts of our humanity. Our frailty, the teeter-totter of our hopes and fears, our need for loving comfort and affirmation. That’s why I love this famous quote from Philip Yancey in his book, The Jesus I Never Knew:

“Never again need we wonder whether what happens on this dirty little tennis ball of planet matters to the rest of the universe. Little wonder a choir of angels broke out in spontaneous song, disturbing not only a few shepherds but the entire universe…”  

The Christmas story of God becoming man is proof of God’s love for His people. Jesus thrust himself from the rightful glory of heaven into decades of obscurity. The world and people He created did not recognize nor honour Him, and this was a long rescue plan that would develop slowly.

When I think how the days have sometime felt very long this past year, my curiosity also leads me to wonder how they felt to Jesus during His time on earth. Thirty plus years of patiently enduring His self-created confines to redeem a people who often didn’t know it nor want it. They must have felt long, it must have been lonely. And looking at it from that perspective, it appears to me that the greater the patience of Jesus, the greater the love that must have fuelled that patience.

What a love He had to leave the throne and take up residence in the form of a baby in the middle of nowhere, allowing the redemption plan to unfold slowly in its rightful time.

For God so loved the world, that He sent His one and only Son…

Merry Christmas