December 5

Scripture Reading

Galatians 4:4-5

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

Devotion

For those who have sold something of their life into slavery and long for freedom this Advent Season.

But when the fullness of time had come,

Under the ball and chained waiting, we, quietly kept, time building,

Overflowing the glass, that cosmological cup, but time is not spent like water.

It is limited and, in its limitation, does grow, bulge, ache, yearn.

Time like air, polluted with our first parents' rebellion, and the rest of this aging creation,

Until it became full-term, pregnant, and groaned with pangs.

God sent forth his Son,

In labor, God did conceive, an incarnate conception.

Of a Son, a God-child-man sent forth, ahead, the first fruit of a new creation,

That last taste of heaven, Begotten in love for the world.

Fully God.

born of woman,

He did arrive, from a woman, blood, sweat, and screams of birth under the quiet Bethlehem sky.

So riveting the event that the screams were drowned by angelic songs of glory,

glory be to God,

glory be to God in the highest

for the child carries peace.

Fully Human.

born under the law,

Birthed he was, under a code, under a rod, to break that conundrum,

Which had never been broken- one who might live according to heaven in perfect obedience, none had done, not one.

to redeem those who were under the law,

Only a perfect life, substance of God and man suffice.

For the one who is born of a woman and fully human lived perfect,

and in perfection, a perfect sacrifice.

That which alone can purchase and transfer the bound unto liberty.

Redemption.

And so the Son of God sent forth, birthed of woman, nailed dead to a tree, and in exchange, we, set free.

so that we might receive adoption as sons.

Freed into the New Humanity, a new family, adopted into God’s very home,

as sons, fully given the rights of the children of God, loved, free.

Whatever it is that has enslaved you, that has kept you in siege,

the barricades have been broken, the captives set free,

fall upon your knees, the Son of God died and is raised, you are relieved.

Reflection

In contemplating this passage, what did the Lord illuminate to you?

How are you attempting to keep the law, meriting yourself before God?

What areas are you living in bondage this Advent season that Christ wants to free you from?

Home

Notes

Song: How Many Kings, Marc Martel & David Martel with Friends.

Scripture quotations are from the ESV®Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright© 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Picture: Photo by William Krause on Unsplash