The Empty Box
This time of year, in public spaces everywhere, you will likely find a beautifully decorated Christmas tree with neatly wrapped boxes underneath. There is one problem with those boxes. While they look pretty on the outside, they are simply empty boxes, wrapped in colorful paper, topped with ribbon and bows.
Oftentimes our lives are the same way – we look all pretty on the outside, but on the inside, an entirely different story. We are busy and productive, festive and smiling, saying and doing all the right things, but inside that beautifully decorated box, there is an emptiness, a darkness, a loneliness. Nothing more than wadded up tissue paper. Something is missing.
The word Advent means “coming,” and it is during Advent, the season between Thanksgiving and Christmas, that we expectantly await the coming of the Messiah. In Isaiah 7:14, the prophet foretells that a virgin will give birth to a son and call him Immanuel. In Matthew’s telling of the birth of Jesus (1:18-25), we find – “’She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).
It is God dwelling with us that can turn emptiness into fullness, dullness into vibrancy, barren into lush. It is absolutely true that Jesus came to cleanse us of our sins and to restore our relationship with God, a relationship broken by sin. It is also just as true that in Jesus, God with us, your dry and parched soul can find refreshment (read John 4:1-26), and your emptiness can be filled. In John 10:10 we find these words of Jesus – “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”
(It is important to note that “abundant” does not mean filled with all your wants and desires. Rather, it means an abounding fullness of joy, a peace knowing that God is with you, meeting your every need. An abundant life comes from following in God’s ways; being obedient and living in accordance with His will.)
So, in the remaining days leading up to Christmas, make it a priority to purposefully and expectantly await the coming of the One who fill your empty gift box: Immanuel, God with us!
If you are encouraged by this or any of my writings, you can subscribe to be notified by email when I post something new. To subscribe, click here. Once you put in your email address you will then get an email confirming that you wish to subscribe. Thank you.