God on the Inside

Christmas season is here.  My wife and I have put up the Christmas tree and the lights.  We've played the Gene Autry Christmas record and soon we will send out Christmas cards.  Christmas season is here and at this time of year I'm drawn to think about the incarnation of Christ.

"The angel went to her and said, 'Greetings, you who are highly favored!  The Lord is with you.'
Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.  But the angel said to her, 'Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God.  You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus." Luke 1:28-31

Mary, a young virgin, got amazing and unbelievable news.  She was going to be a mother even though she was a virgin.  I can begin to understand the feeling Mary must have had.  My wife is 15 weeks pregnant.  I remember how when she told me that she was pregnant I was excited and petrified all at the same time; I rejoiced and shook like a leaf all at once.

So, Mary got the extraordinary news that she was pregnant though still a virgin.  But she also got the incredible news that God was to be inside her.

"'How can this be,' Mary asked the angel, 'since I am a virgin?'
The angel answered, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.  So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God."  Luke 1:34-35

God... the immeasurable, ineffable, immortal, invincible... was going to be inside her.  God the almighty was to be God the embryo!  God was going to live inside her.

Having a pregnant wife I can tell you that when a baby lives inside you you experience changes.  Your body changes, your diet changes, your mood changes, when you are pregnant you experience immense changes.  When a baby takes residence inside of you your life is altered.  When Mary had God the embryo in her she ate differently and acted different and felt differently in so many ways.

A person of the Trinity is no longer an embryo but God does in fact still live in us today.

"I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith."  Ephesians 3:16-17a

"Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?"  1 Corinthians 3:16

God.. the immeasurable, ineffable, immortal, invincible... takes residence inside you.  Like Mary you can't ever be the same when God lives in you.  Like Mary, God will cause us to change.  Our lives will be altered.

When God's on the inside He makes changes.  Don't fight the changes the almighty makes when He makes His abode with you.  Thank God that He does the miracle to live in you today.