The Gift of Christmas
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”—Eph. 2:4-7
Being a mother of a child with disabilities has taught me a lot.
Usually, we think more is better, but in Anah’s case, it is not. That extra chromosome found in the DNA of all her cells has hampered her significantly. Her disability is written into the very core of her body, with outward effects that impacts her daily life—and ours.
But lest I forget, God has used her in a mighty way in my life: to help me see that I too am a disabled child. Perhaps not externally, but internally in my spirit.
My disability is also written in the very DNA of my soul. I too am infected with something God never intended for His image bearers. This “extra chromosome” has not only warped me but all of humanity, setting us on a path away from God, away from all He created us to be.
We are all disabled people.
The Gift of Christmas
There is nothing Anah can do to change her disability. She doesn’t even have the desire to.
And neither do we. People dead in our trespasses have no desire to change.
“But God”—two of the most powerful words in Scripture—overrides the story by stepping in. The book of Ephesians is rich in truths about what God has done, despite our deadness. He has done this by:
Choosing us to be in Christ, before we came into existence (Eph. 1:4)!
Making us alive together with Christ though once we were dead (Eph. 2:1, 4).
Redeeming us from our slavery to sin (1 Peter 1:18-19, Rom. 6:6-7).
Restoring us to be holy and blameless people (Eph. 1:4).
Adopting us as His children (Eph. 1:5)
Making us partakers of HIs inheritance as legal children (Eph. 1:11).
Sealing us with His Holy Spirit as a down payment for what is to come (Eph. 1:13-14; 4:30)
Because of God’s great mercy, He has initiated this adoption. We do not get what we deserve. Instead, we are gifted with what we do not deserve. What mercy and grace!
Just as Anah did not ask to be adopted, we did not ask to be His children. We couldn’t. We’re dead!
Just as Anah was given a new name, a new status, and a new destiny, so are we.
What Have You Done With Your Gift?
But sometimes, we don’t always appreciate the gifts we are given.
Like any normal kid, Anah does not always appreciate what she has inherited. Instead of gratitude, we are on the receiving end of continued rebellion. She insists on her own way despite our warnings against it.
There are many times when this makes me so mad. We have sacrificed so much for her only to have it thrown back in my face. Ungrateful wretch!
And yet, this is where God also stops me. I do the exact same thing!
I still pursue my own way. I still want what I want. I scorn his promises.
However, this is where the analogy breaks down. No matter what I do for her, I cannot fundamentally change the disability that limits her understanding.
“But God”—He can! He has actually taken away our disability too!
We are healed: completely, fully, deeply, ultimately. We are saved from the disability of sin. Our whole DNA has been rewritten.
Our ability to look at life is completely different. We have been raised up, seated with Christ in the heavenly places (Eph. 2:6). We have a whole new vantage point from which to understand our lives here.
Not only that, we have a new call in life: to love as He loved, even if it means laying down our lives for one another (John 15:12-13).
Out of love for us, He laid aside His glory and majesty to become one of us (Phil. 2:6). Not only did He do that, He took on the frail form of our humanity that first Christmas, not merely as an earthly king but as the lowest of the low (v. 7).
Because we have been raised with Him, we set our minds on Christ (Col. 3:1-2), that He may recalibrate and reform our thinking (Rom. 12:2). By the mercies of God, we express our worship by presenting our bodies to Him as living sacrifices (Rom. 12:1) by serving one another as more important than ourselves (Phil. 2:3-4).
In this way, we use the gift we have been given.
The Gift That Keeps Giving
Though He came this first Advent as a humble servant, He will come the second time as the risen King and the Savior of the world.
While we remember the first Advent, we look forward to the second.
When we become children of God, the gifts never stop. Our salvation is not just good for one moment in time, but his mercies are new every morning (Lam. 3:22-23). This allows us to make progress towards Christ, no matter how unsuccessful we were the day before.
Though I cannot change Anah, God has used her in my life to change me. Every day affords me the opportunity to enter into her world of disability, keenly aware of what God has done for me. Though I fail at it constantly, God’s forgiveness gives me fresh starts when I confess again and again (1 John 1:9).
One day, He promises that work will be done (Phil. 1:6). He will complete it and I will be the person He has always intended me to be.
I will take my place in the body of Christ, His bride, and be forever united with my Savior. Until then, I will labor—caring for other disabled souls like me, like Anah—until we join Him on that day.
