A Beautiful Word

Emmanuel.

It’s a beautiful word, if you truly know what it means. And I don’t just mean the interpretation, God with us.

Much can be said about God with us. The fact that God came to earth in human form and His name was called Jesus. The fact that His motivation for coming was love, love for you. Love for me. The fact that without His coming, all people of the world would perish eternally. Both you and me.

It’s all beautiful. And sometimes very hard to believe that it’s true. But it is. And that is, perhaps, the most amazing part about Emmanuel that I’m meditating on this Christmas season—it doesn’t just mean God was with us, 2,000 years ago when Jesus was born. It means that He is still with us, if we have asked Him to be Lord and Savior of our lives.

It means His presence and its essence—Love—is with us. Dwelling in us, pouring over us, every minute of the day. The Bible tells us that God’s anger lasts but for a moment, but His love endures forever—a truth repeated 26 times in Psalm 136.

Love is with us. Comfort, peace, mercy, truth—everything we so desperately need is already flowing from God’s heart toward ours. Not anger, not judgment, not condemnation.

Emmanuel.

A beautiful Word. How well do you truly know Him?