During the Christmas season, it seems that we become more conscious of time. We have to pay attention to time, especially when it comes to not running out of time to do everything to get ready for Christmas day. How much time do we have left to shop? What is the latest time you can have something shipped to arrive by Christmas? When do I need to get my Christmas cards into the mail to arrive on time? What time are the different religious services at church and the like? It’s Christmas time.
In Paul’s letter to the Galatians, he writes, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children.” (Galatians 4: 4-5) According to Paul, God sent His Son into the world to save us at the right time. God decided that there was a specific time in which He would act. We might call it the most decisive moment in all of history. In the birth of Jesus, God entered human time as one of us, altering time forever.
From the moment that Mary birthed this holy baby in Bethlehem, our world has never been the same. We now see time in a new way. Time is now understood in light of the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus tells us what time it truly is. As Paul suggests, we have been redeemed in Jesus from our sinfulness and born anew into the family of God. As God’s children, our time is now marked by the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. This fullness of time tells us who we are at the present time.
Jesus also brings us into a timeless eternity. The time now has no end for those who place their faith in Jesus Christ. We can now live with the assurance that we will be with God for all time. The fullness of time in the Bethlehem manger has spilled over into eternity and brought us with it. We now understand the present time in light of eternity. Christmas time makes a difference for all time. The good news of Jesus’ birth is where time took on new meaning, new purpose, and new hope. Christmas time is now our time, for we are now children of the eternal living God.
Conversations from the Couch 