During this time of year, I often hear the phrase Jesus, the reason for the season,” but I would go further, Jesus is the reason for life. Without His birth, His life and His sacrificial death our lives are meaningless. His lineage, nature, place of birth, where He would be raised, His career, purpose, the specific manor and nature of His death, His resurrection, all were told in the Old Testament, hundreds of years before His birth. How could you not believe? His life changed the dateline and history forever. Every day of His life was a fulfillment of scripture and a reason to believe that He was truly, “God in flesh.” The following is a composition that beautifully describes the uniqueness of the life of Jesus, it’s called “One Solitary Life” and gives a fresh perspective of the simple, yet impactful life He lived.
He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another village, where He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty. Then for three years He was an itinerant preacher. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family or owned a home. He didn’t go to college. He never visited a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place where He was born. He did none of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but Himself. He was only thirty-three when the tide of public opinion turned against Him. His friends ran away. One of them denied Him. He was turned over to His enemies and went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. While He was dying, His executioners gambled for His garments, the only property He had on earth. When He was dead, He was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend. Nineteen centuries have come and gone, and today He is the central figure of the human race. All the armies that ever marched, all the Navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man on this earth as much as that one solitary life.
As we prepare to celebrate our Saviors birth, be encouraged about your life and family. Those who lived and watched Jesus could have never predicted His impact and may I say that the impact that you are having on your kids and family is greater than you could ever imagine too. Often we look at what we’re not doing, what we lack and how inconsistent we are but I challenge you this Christmas season to talk about the possibilities, the dreams and the great benefits that are yours because of one simple solitary life. Jesus, Immanuel, God with us.