“I believe in Christianity,” C.S. Lewis said, “as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”

Lewis’s claim is stunning. It is in Christ, and through Christ, that the world makes sense. Apart from Christ, the world remains dark. Without Him, we will never see, never understand.

Oh, how we need to see.

If you want to be encouraged, take an afternoon—or a month—and look at the places in the Gospels that speak of Jesus coming: He came to Bethlehem, to Nazareth, to Jerusalem. He came to the Jews; He came for the Gentiles. He came to Lazarus (and to Mary and Martha) when Lazarus died. He came to Peter’s home to heal his mother-in-law. He came to place his hands upon the blind, the unclean, the sick, the demon-possessed—and the children. He came as bread from heaven. He came that we might have life and have it abundantly. Mostly, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

He came. Dwell on that for a moment. Whether it be to your home for a meal, to your hospital room, or to your soccer game, for another to come to you is an honor, an expression of love. And the greater the distance, and the greater the expense, the greater the honor and the love.

How is it that the Lord of heaven and earth should come to us, not for a moment, but for a lifetime—to live and die as one of us—precisely so that we could come to Him?

My prayer for you this Christmas season, even as it is for my family and my church (and myself), is that you would know that Jesus came for you, and that you would embrace all the blessed implications of this for your life. Christ’s coming in the flesh shows not only that He loves you, but that He honors you. You, particularly. Which is why He can say: “He who comes to me, I will in no wise cast out.”

Merry Christmas, beloved.