What Child Is This? The Birth Of Jesus and 5 Essential Reasons Why I Need Him

The Birth Of Jesus – 5 Essential Reasons Why I Need Him

I hope your Christmas with your family was a wonderful time this year.  I pray your day was filled with lots of laughter and many great memories.  As my Christmas Day comes to a close I wanted to pause for a moment.  I wanted to take a few minutes and reflect on my own the birth of Jesus Christ.

Before the Clearance sales begin, before family goes home, and before all the leftovers are no more I needed to silence myself and break open the Christmas narratives found in the gospels of Matthew and Luke and ask myself, “What Child Is This?”

I came up a list of reasons of why I needed Jesus Christ to come into the World.  Why God needed to intervene and send His only begotten Son to Planet Earth 2,000 years ago.  The 5 reasons listed below is by no means an exhaustive list but just a personal and quick list as I spend the last few moment of Christmas Day 2009 remembering the birth of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Let me share with you 5 essentials reasons why I need Him.

Essential Reason #1 – I Can’t Please God On My Own

Romans 8:5-8
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

This reminder convicted me greatly at first.  There is nothing that I can do that will ever please God on my own.  This lump of clay that I carry around on a day-to-day basis will never please God.  Everything I do of my own ability ownly leads me further and further towards death.  God created me, God breathed life into me, so it is only logical that I cannot do anything ‘impressive’ towards God.

All my actions even on my best days only lead towards death.  On my own I only continue to fight against the Creator of the Universe and as a result my fate is sealed.  I needed someone to please God on my behalf.

Essential Reason #2 – I Can’t Know God On My Own

Psalm 50:21
These things you have done and I kept silent; you thought I was altogether like you.  But I will rebuke you and accuse you to your face.

Job 11:7-8
“Can you find out the deep things of God?
Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?
It is higher than heaven—what can you do?
Deeper than Sheol—what can you know?

This truth is something I will never fully grasp all my days on Earth.  The simple truth is I can not know God on my own.  Many people have claimed to know God or hear from God but in the end their folly is made very clear.  It is impossible to know God without God first revealing what He desires for us to know about Him.

If I cannot know God that opens up the door to a long list of questions that I will never have answered.  Why am I here?  How did I get here?  Where am i going?  What is my purpose while I am here?

Throughout the Bible God is revealing himself time and time again but not until we get to the New Testament does God reveal everything about himself that He desires for us to know.  God became flesh and made his dwelling among us.  Through Christ not only do I now get to know God but I am able to see His face.

Any attempt to know God on my own is foolish, without any hope or assurance.  Christ revealed is filled with both grace and truth and along with Him, the eternal assurance of the glory of God.

Essential Reason #3 – I Can’t Discern My Own Heart

Jeremiah 17:9
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

My heart tells me lies and nothing but lies.  What do I really want?  What do I really need?  What is the best decision in this matter?  My heart lies to me constantly and in the ends will be broken every time.

The reason I cannot discern my own heart is because my heart is a heart of stone.  It is shut off because of my sin to the purposes and truth of God.  That is why my heart is full of lies.  Because it is shut off to the truth of God it only seeks to protect itself.  I will never fully love, never fully put others first, never fully be able to make any decision that does not put only my feelings and wants first.

I need Jesus Christ to remove my heart of stone and give me a new heart, a heart after His.

Essential Reason #4 – I Can’t Make My Own Paths Straight

Jeremiah 10:23
I know, O LORD, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.

Proverbs 14:12
There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.

To put it simply I need someone to show me the way.  While I will be the first to admit that many of the reasons of why Jesus came were spiritual I also must admit that God is so intimate to my needs He also knew I needed someone to show me the way to live the redeemed life in the Kingdom of God.

I needed a perfect example of walking by faith and trusting God alone.  I needed a perfect example of what Divine Obedience looks like as well as living out the wisdom of God day-to-day.

Left to myself my paths zig-zag and go nowhere.  Too many mistakes built on top of mistakes, let me call it what it is:  to many sins built on top of other sins.  Any decisions I would have built my life upon other than Christ always leads to the grave and that is where they stay.  But as I learn daily to build my life upon the truth and rock of Jesus Christ, what I am building through Jesus Christ will last for eternity.

Essential Reason #5 – I Can’t Save Myself

Galatians 3:10
For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.”

Ephesians 2:8-9
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

This is the biggest and hopefully most obvious essential reason why I am glad Jesus Christ came to Earth.  It is impossible for me to save myself.  I need a Savior.  The name of Jesus simply means “Yahweh Saves.”

Jesus said multiple times that His mission was to seek and to save the lost.  It is impossible to make myself right with God.  I cannot atone for my own sins.  Nothing imperfect can make something perfect.  But while I did not deserve this God intervened.  He sent His only son Jesus Christ into the World to save sinners.  To offer himself as the only perfect sacrifice.  Through His blood, my sins are atoned for and I am made right with God.  In fact I now have peace with God.

The holiness of God demanded perfection for my salvation and through His grace He sent Jesus Christ.  I could not save myself and only Christ can save me.

One Hour Left Of Christmas Day

This is not a typical post from me.  Just a few moments reflecting on the gift of God through Jesus Christ.  I am most thankful and completely humbled by the birth of Jesus Christ.  God shows up in the strangest of places.  It is my prayer this Christmas that the truth of Jesus shows up in my life as well as yours.

One hour left of Christmas Day but by the grace of God a lifetime left filled with the glory and goodness of God in my life.

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