The angel said, “Don’t be afraid. I’m here to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for everybody, worldwide: A Savior has just been born in David’s town, a Savior who is Messiah and Master. This is what you’re to look for: a baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:10-12 The Message)
Under your Christmas tree you likely have a small mountain of gifts, each one wrapped in colorful paper and ribbons to conceal its true identity until the moment it’s opened. Unless, of course, the gift is a DVD. It seems there’s just no good way of disguising a DVD.
Our gifts are meant to remind us, at least in part, of the greatest gift: our Savior, God the Son himself. He came to us not as some might have expected. He came disguised. He came wrapped.
The “gods” of others seem also to be “wrapped.” In stone and metal, the Bible observes (Deut. 29:17). I’ve watched as Buddhists overlay their images with gold leaf and Hindus wrap theirs with flower garlands. For Muslims God remains distant, behind a cloak of inaccessibility.
The One true God changed this for all of humanity, when into the dark skies near the town of Bethlehem he sent his angel “to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for everybody, worldwide: A Savior has just been born!” “This is what you’re to look for,” the angel proclaimed to a group of shepherds in the fields, “a baby wrapped in a blanket.”
The God of the Bible comes wrapped! Wrapped in a blanket! Wrapped in the vulnerable and ever-approachable humanity of a baby! When God came into the world that he’d created he came “all in,” sacrificing everything, exchanging the might of his throne for the meagerness of a manger. That feeding trough-turned-cradle was the Son’s first step toward the cross. Our Savior came as a newborn, and yet he came willing, ready, even determined to die in order to save all of those separated from their Creator.
The shepherds who were blessed to hear this good news immediately ran to see the marvelous life-changing gift of a Savior “wrapped in a blanket.” Afterward, they went and excitedly shared the news with “everyone they met!”
Dear praying friends, this is precisely what the fellow workers of World Mission Prayer League are called to do! There are so many still in the world today who have not yet heard the Good News of the God who came “wrapped” in the baby Jesus, a Savior for “everybody, worldwide.” As our workers go to share this news with them in word and deed, they go according to Jesus’ own orders: “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you” (John 20:21). They must go “wrapped,” as it were.
As I humbly begin my tenure as General Director of the Prayer League, I am exceedingly grateful for our fellow workers who have responded to the Lord’s calling to be his messengers, and to serve him across geographical and cultural barriers. Following the Lord’s example, they must “wrap” themselves in the cultures and languages of the people to whom they are sent. They have gone “all in,” with not a small amount of sacrifice, humbly embracing vulnerability, and entering into a learning and growing process that I would liken to a second infancy. This is not easily done. Consequently, above all they must go “clothed in Christ” (Galatians 3:27), with his righteousness graciously placed upon them, and his Spirit dwelling within them.
And so, this Christmas, as the gifts under the tree are unwrapped, let us all give praise and thanks to our God for how he sent his Son, “wrapped in a blanket” to be our Savior and the Savior of “everybody, worldwide.” Let us likewise pray for “everybody” for whom Jesus came, but for whom, sadly, this Christmas will pass without their having yet heard the announcement first heard by the shepherds. That announcement is meant for them, too! Let us pray then, also, for today’s “shepherds” who have heard, and are eager to share what they know of Jesus with others. May that be me! May that be you! May it also be the workers of the World Mission Prayer League spread around the world! Please pray for them, that they would be effectively “wrapped” in the cultures and languages of those to whom God has sent them, and that the Spirit would accompany and empower their witness, bringing many to faith in the Savior.
Finally, allow me to express my deep and sincere thanks to all of you who have so faithfully and generously supported the work and workers of the World Mission Prayer League with your prayers and your gifts. You have joined us in the Lord’s work through your prayers, and with your gifts you have made it possible for our workers, both here in Minneapolis and in other countries, to serve the cause of our Lord’s mission with full and joyful hearts!
With a full and joyful heart, and on behalf my Prayer League fellow workers, I wish for all of you a rich and very Merry Christmas! Remember the Gift that came wrapped in a blanket for you, and for “everybody, worldwide!”