Relationships sometimes fail, and promises of love are easily forgotten. Love can be put to the test. The story of Christmas is God’s test of love. But it is not a test of our love for God, although that is part of it, it is a test of God’s love for humanity. The birth of Jesus was the birth of a saviour. It was God’s rescue mission – and that is what is at the heart of Christmas! You will not hear this central idea talked about, because it is offensive to most Australians: the suggestion that, we need rescuing, is offensive. Adam opens up for us what is meant by this, helping us to understand what this is all about.
The standard for living a righteous life isn’t being better than our neighbour, the standard is to love our neighbour as much as we love what is best for ourselves. Turning away from God’s way, through selfishness, arguing, anger, (and many more that you can think of that fit to you) means that in this, we fail, we deserve judgement; so we do need a saviour. Thankfully God is not just a god of judgement, but he is also our God of grace and forgiveness. He simply asks us to follow him, because his ways are good, and by far the most satisfying for us as well.