As children who have disobeyed their own parents, we sometimes are when we disobey God. I remember the shame, embarrassment, and sometimes fear that I felt when I was a kid and had done something that my parents did not approve of. Sure, I knew my parents loved me and would not disown me, but there was this hiding from them and not wanting to broach the subject of my disobedience. I remember one time I had disobeyed them and they did not know it yet. There was this guilt inside of me that prompted me to even tell them outright that I had disobeyed them because the weight of guilt was so strong. I would hide from them when I got home, sneak into my room without trying to talk with them, and go on as if I had not done anything wrong. As children who have disobeyed their own parents, we sometimes are when we disobey God.

The good news of the gospel is that what Jesus’ incarnation does, what Jesus’ arrival as a baby does, what Jesus’ coming as God in the flesh does, what Jesus’ being born of a virgin does… is that it gives us accessibility to Him. John Piper writes:

“…This word became flesh and so was one of us and was pursuing us with his fullness – so it is an accessible fullness.”

When John, the gospel writer, writes in John 1:16 that, “For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace,” he means to also imply that because Christ came into this world and lived among us, He became an accessible God. Yesterday, we established the fact that Jesus, the Word, is God. John 1:1 tells us He was in the beginning with God and that He is God. John 1:14 tells us that, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…” Yes, God dwelt among us. God, in Jesus, lived among us.

God made himself accessible to His creation by being born as a human. We can go into the how of that great event or we can receive God’s word as truth and stand in awe of Christ’s incarnation. Let’s choose the latter today. God made himself accessible to us when he became like us. Without ever sinning, we have One that knows every temptation that we will ever go through and He sympathizes with our weaknesses. This is why God is accessible. He knows and sympathizes. Christ with all his fullness is here for you. That is what the birth of Christ gives us: accessibility to His fullness!

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” -Hebrews 4:15-16

Pray with me:

God, I recognize my sinfulness as a limited, finite creature. But, with this recognition, I also believe that you made yourself accessible through the incarnation. You entered our finite realm, stooped to our world and pursued us. What accessibility. We saw your glory. We see it even now. Glimpses of your glory full of grace and truth. Now, we can come close to you because you came close to us. We don’t shy away from you because of our sin. Recognizing that we have sinned against you, we come with a confidence that only your incarnation could afford and we receive mercy and grace. Lord, thank you for your grace in time of need. I have received grace upon grace upon grace. Thank you for making yourself accessible to us. Amen”