Meditations From the Stable

As I linger over the stable and in my imagination see the infant Jesus as God's inbreak into my world, I came across this in my ESV Study Bible in the article on the doctrine of Christ:

Four statements must be understood and affirmed in order to attain a complete biblical picture of the person of Jesus Christ:

1. Jesus Christ is fully and completely divine.
2. Jesus Christ is fully and completely human.
3. The divine and human natures of Christ are distinct.
4. The divine and human natures of Christ are completely united in one person.

These truths are largely hammered out in the Nicene (A.D. 325) and Chalcedonian (A.D. 451) creeds. It is interesting to imagine looking at the infant Jesus with these great truths before me. These statements are all true about this little one. Once again, I am plunged into mystery. The glory of this God is displayed in his conjunction of attributes and actions: humility wed with majesty; Love wed with holiness; Human wed with Divine.

As I reflect on this Christ, I long for him to be birthed in me anew. That he would grow and take shape in all my thoughts and actions, which are so ruined with corruption. To have this Jesus make his home in me until my most natural way of "being human" is at once a reflection of true humanity empowered by divinity.