Our Advent theme is “Consider Christmas.” We considered what the Christmas story teaches about Jesus’ call, gift and love; and why they matter to us. For our final message we will consider Jesus’ impact on human history, on our lives—especially in one crucial area. Many greater thinkers (from Plato to Nietzsche to Martin Luther King Jr) have made the argument that our picture of God (or lack thereof) determines our view of ourselves and others. How we think God relates to us significantly impacts and often even determines how we relate to others. If so, then the greatest impact of Jesus, even above our salvation, is found in these ten words: “If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father!” All of who Christ is, what He did and said—including His birth—offer us our truest picture of who God really is. They reveal the heart of the One we hope to spend all of eternity with. And that is good news.
