{"id":71936,"date":"2024-12-24T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-24T05:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/?p=71936"},"modified":"2024-12-26T12:24:03","modified_gmt":"2024-12-26T17:24:03","slug":"christmas-eve-love-come-near","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/christmas-eve-love-come-near\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas Eve: Love Come Near"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Immanuel, God is with us. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I hear this phrase, it\u2019s tempting to consider it more as figurative language than what it truly means. God is with me, like the companioning spirit of my friend when she texts voice memos from afar. God is with me, like my mother is when one of our inside jokes hits me while cooking fettuccine Alfredo. But for Mary the mother of Jesus, the phrase \u201cGod is with us\u201d left no room for interpretation. It was as literal as it gets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSee, the virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they will name him Immanuel, which is translated \u2018God is with us,\u2019\u201d prophesied Isaiah (Matthew 1:23). Reading the nativity story again, I can\u2019t help but imagine how Mary and Joseph may have thought God\u2019s method for bringing a Messiah was a little close to home. After all, reading about God\u2019s presence in your morning devotion time is an entirely different thing than feeling the incarnate son of God kicking around in your womb. This takes \u201cGod is with us\u201d to an uncomfortably close level. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This young betrothed couple were preparing to start their life together, preparing for their own family, when suddenly they were met with an unexpected invitation to parent a different child. One divinely conceived, given from the Father. What shocking news! Yet Mary was a faithful, willing servant. What we do know is the Lord was with her even before she became pregnant. Instead of resisting this divine call, Mary\u2019s words echo a heart of trust and speak to a close relationship with Yahweh. She may not have fully understood how the Word was about to become flesh and be born of a woman, but she trusted God\u2019s love (John 1:14; Galatians 4:4). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It takes faith to believe God is near. Despite any exposure or discomfort that came from bearing God\u2019s Son, it was a precious gift for Mary who was chosen because of her willing heart to say \u201cyes\u201d to God without knowing how it would impact her future. During her pregnancy, Mary\u2019s womb became a tabernacle for God\u2019s physical presence. And, today, our hearts also serve as this tabernacle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne need not cry out very loudly,\u201d wrote Brother Lawrence, an everyday believer who served in a Carmelite monastery. \u201cHe is nearer to us than we think.\u201d God is with us every moment of every day, in the big things and the ordinary things, because His Spirit dwells within us. Let this image of God\u2019s nearness, or his \u201cwith-ness,\u201d be a comfort in whatever you\u2019re walking through right now. God demonstrated His great love for all humankind by coming near, sending His Son to be with us. Yes, Jesus is our Savior, but He\u2019s also our friend. He draws near simply to spend time with us\u2014while we cook, while we clean, while we work, study, and love the people around us.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Immanuel, God is with us.  When I hear this phrase, it\u2019s tempting to consider it more as figurative language than what it truly means. God is with me, like the companioning spirit of my friend when she texts voice memos from afar. God is with me, like my mother is when one of our inside […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":71563,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[292],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advent2024"],"acf":{"hero_background_image":false,"related_plans":[71574],"weekly_truth":false,"grace_day":false,"share_text":"She Reads Truth","devotional_text":"CHRISTMAS EVE: LOVE CAME NEAR<\/b>

\r\nby Bailey Gillespie<\/i>

\r\n

Immanuel, God is with us.<\/em><\/p>
\r\n

When I hear this phrase, it\u2019s tempting to consider it more as figurative language than what it truly means. God is with me, like the companioning spirit of my friend when she texts voice memos from afar. God is with me, like my mother is when one of our inside jokes hits me while cooking fettuccine Alfredo. But for Mary the mother of Jesus, the phrase \u201cGod is with us\u201d left no room for interpretation. It was as literal as it gets.<\/p>
\r\n

\u201cSee, the virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they will name him Immanuel, which is translated \u2018God is with us,\u2019\u201d prophesied Isaiah (Matthew 1:23). Reading the nativity story again, I can\u2019t help but imagine how Mary and Joseph may have thought God\u2019s method for bringing a Messiah was a little close to home. After all, reading about God\u2019s presence in your morning devotion time is an entirely different thing than feeling the incarnate son of God kicking around in your womb. This takes \u201cGod is with us\u201d to an uncomfortably close level.<\/p>
\r\n

This young betrothed couple were preparing to start their life together, preparing for their own family, when suddenly they were met with an unexpected invitation to parent a different child. One divinely conceived, given from the Father. What shocking news! Yet Mary was a faithful, willing servant. What we do know is the Lord was with her even before she became pregnant. Instead of resisting this divine call, Mary\u2019s words echo a heart of trust and speak to a close relationship with Yahweh. She may not have fully understood how the Word was about to become flesh and be born of a woman, but she trusted God\u2019s love (John 1:14; Galatians 4:4).<\/p>
\r\n

It takes faith to believe God is near. Despite any exposure or discomfort that came from bearing God\u2019s Son, it was a precious gift for Mary who was chosen because of her willing heart to say \u201cyes\u201d to God without knowing how it would impact her future. During her pregnancy, Mary\u2019s womb became a tabernacle for God\u2019s physical presence. And, today, our hearts also serve as this tabernacle.<\/p>
\r\n

\u201cOne need not cry out very loudly,\u201d wrote Brother Lawrence, an everyday believer who served in a Carmelite monastery. \u201cHe is nearer to us than we think.\u201d God is with us every moment of every day, in the big things and the ordinary things, because His Spirit dwells within us. Let this image of God\u2019s nearness, or his \u201cwith-ness,\u201d be a comfort in whatever you\u2019re walking through right now. God demonstrated His great love for all humankind by coming near, sending His Son to be with us. Yes, Jesus is our Savior, but He\u2019s also our friend. He draws near simply to spend time with us\u2014while we cook, while we clean, while we work, study, and love the people around us.<\/p>","share_image_height":"640","day_number":"24","scripture":"Matthew 1:1-25, John 1:14-18, Galatians 4:4-5","available":true,"ad_banner_name":"","ad_banner_image":false,"ad_banner_url":"","songs":"","key_verse":"","key_verse_reference":"","background_image":false,"background_color":"#FBF7F3","scripture_references":false,"share_image":false,"author_name":"","author_bio":"","guest_social_media":false,"show_ad":true,"ad_override":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/75"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71936\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}