Merry (late) Christmas everyone 🎄 There's something real quick I want to share with you about Christmas and Jesus so we'll pretend Christmas isn't over yet. “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means, God is with us.” Matthew 1:23 My pastor preached about one part of this verse on Christmas Eve and I thought it was really interesting. The phrase, "God is with us," is very important. I know you're probably thinking, "Of course God is with us so I mean that is kind of important. He is everywhere and with everyone to some extent all the time!" While this is true, sometimes we can get a deeper or different meaning if we look at the original languages. This phrase was originally in Hebrew then translated into Greek then translated into English for us. If any of you study other languages, you'll know that each language has its own idiomatic phrases and words. For example in French, there are two ways to say you know something. You can know/recognize someone or you can know subject material. These words, although the same in English, actually mean different things in French. The same is true for the word, "with," in Greek. You can be with someone or you can be with someone. Let me explain cause I know that doesn't help. If it's with #1, then you're at stadium with a bunch of other people. You may not see all of your friends but you're with them. You're casually hanging out. You're there. But if it's with #2, you are almost intimately with someone. It's just you and them and nothing else matters. All that matters is that you're with them. You don't need to look nice or get ready. It is just you and the other person. All that matters is the love and respect you have for each other. Guess what? With #2 is the with used in the phrase, "God is with us." He's not just out there watching you from up above, He is right next to you, holding your hand. He is with you! The only way He can be with us is because of Jesus. Jesus is God in fleshly form. God humbled Himself by literally coming down to earth to be with us. Just like any true Christians He's in heaven as an example for us. God loved us so much that He is willing to sacrifice His "perfection" by coming down to our imperfect earth. When we're celebrating Christmas, this is what we're celebrating. We're not just celebrating that Jesus was born but that He continues to stay with us today. We're celebrating God's humility and willingness to let nothing separate us from Him.