This will be a sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.
(Luke 2:12 NIVUK)
There you go! Christmas all wrapped up. Sadly, today most are content to leave the Christ child all wrapped up. When all wrapped up in cloths the baby Jesus is no threat to them. They can bring Him out each Christmas for a few days, go to the carol service or the school nativity play, they do their bit. There is no thought of un-wrapping the Christ child. And any way why would they want to un-wrap the Son of God? When I listen to Christina Rossetti’s poem with music by Gustav Holst “In the Bleak Midwinter” ending with the line “Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart” maybe there is a clue here as to why you should un-wrap a baby wrapped in cloths. When you give your heart to Jesus you start to un-wrap Him, you start to grow with Him and in Him and the more you un-wrap Him the more you grow to be like Him. Finally, the cloths are all gone and there He is, a Man and you fully recognise Him as the Christ, the one who will take all your sinful nature upon Himself to crucified with Him. Let’s “thank God for His Son – a gift too wonderful for words!” (2 Corinthians 9:15 NLT). So, what will you un-wrap this Christmas? Go on, un-wrap Jesus, you know you want to!
