God Came Near

Now that Christmas is over, we often forget about the significance of Christ’s coming and the amazing truth that He became Immanuel—God with us.  So as the glory and awe of the season wears off, I have a book that will rekindle the fire and re-ignite your awe and wonder at the coming of Christ.

“My prayer for this book—without apologies—is that the Divine Surgeon will use it as a delicate surgical tool to restore sight.  That blurriness will be focused and darkness dispersed.  That the Christ will emerge from a wavy figure walking out of a desert mirage to become the touchable face of a best friend.  That we will lay our faces at the pierced feet and join Thomas in proclaiming, ‘My Lord and my God.’  And, most supremely, that we will whisper the secret of the universe, ‘We were eyewitnesses of his majesty.’” 
~Excerpt from “Eyewitnesses of His Majesty"

God gave His greatest gift to us in that He took on human form—a huge sacrifice and love offering that we will never be able to fully fathom.  But the least we can do is try to wrap our minds around the unimaginable.  To contemplate, dwell upon, and appreciate the gift God gave.  And this is what this book does. 
 
Written by wonderful story-teller and preacher Max Lucado, God Came Near captures the absurdity and astounding fact that the eternal God stepped into time, took on human form, and walked among us.  Originally published in 1986 and then reprinted in 2004, this book has encouraged and touched believers with a closer, down-to-earth, and tangible look at the life of Jesus.
 
A few of my favorite sections include:

“Rest, tiny feet.  Rest today so that tomorrow you might walk with power.  Rest.  For millions will follow in your steps.  And little heart…holy…pumping the blood of life through the universe:  How many times will we break you?  You’ll be torn by the thorns of our accusations.  You’ll be ravaged by the cancer of our sin.  You’ll be crushed under the weight of your own sorrow.  And you’ll be pierced by the spear of our rejection.  Yet in that piercing, in that ultimate ripping of muscle and membrane, in the final rush of blood and water, you will find rest.  Your hands will be freed, your eyes will see justice, your lips will smile, and your feet will carry you home.  And there you’ll rest again—this time in the embrace of your Father.
~Excerpt from “Mary’s Prayer”
 
“He could have come back as a man in another era when society wasn’t so volatile, when religion wasn’t so stale, when people would listen better.  He could have come back when crosses were out of style.  But his heart wouldn’t let him.  If there was hesitation on the part of his humanity, it was overcome by the compassion of his divinity.  His divinity heard the voices.  His divinity heard the hopeless cries of the poor, the bitter accusations of the abandoned, the dangling despair of those who were trying to save themselves.  And his divinity saw the faces.  Some wrinkled.  Some weeping.  Some hidden behind veils.  Some obscured by fear.  Some earnest with searching.  Some blank with boredom.  From the face of Adam to the face of the infant born somewhere in the world as you read these words, he saw them all.”
~Excerpt from “Out of the Carpentry Shop”

So as you seek to know the Savior more and follow in His footsteps, see if God does not come nearer to you through the contemplations and thoughts of Max Lucado.  And may this book be a blessing to you and refocus your new year.