God is all in. God is not holding back in love, grace and mercy when Jesus is sent to earth. God knew exactly what Jesus was going to endure to take on the sin of the world and did it anyway. Love could not be contained. Jesus is the full expression of God’s love for us.
14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you[c] a sign: The virgin[d] will conceive and give birth to a son, and[e] will call him Immanuel.[f] (Isaiah 7:14 NIV).
4 Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:4-6 NIV).
God is all in for me, for you. God sent Jesus to show us the power of love, to show us the way to healing. I am often humbled by the great length God goes to, to show me I am worthy of healing, worthy of compassion, worthy. It is easy to think Jesus was in the past, but his life and death are fully in the present. The gift of the manger is as much for today as it was then. He is the gift that keeps on giving.
This holiday season I want this to be at the forefront of my giving and expressions of love to all I come in contact with. Did you know God is all in for you? Have you lost sight of that? Share your story here to breathe life and bring hope to others.