Christmas: The Meaning of the Incarnation

A Christmas Card from the early 1900s

I heard this story years ago and I share it with you today, because he shows the meaning of Christmas to those of us who follow Jesus Christ.  One year at Christmas there was home to which Santa delivered a train for Christmas.   On that Christmas morning this house looked like a disaster had struck.  Tossed across the floor were boxes and wrapping paper and bows, ribbons, and of course new toys.  In this particular house the most exciting toy was the train.  This boy loved racing the train round and round, as fast as it would go, but in the confusion, a discarded box got on the track, and the train derailed.

Bending down over the train, this young budding engineer kept trying to get it back on the tracks, but he couldn't get the wheels to seat properly.  Finally, his father realized what was happening.  “You know, you can’t do that standing up above it,” he said.  “You have to get down beside it.”  The father then dropped down on the carpet and lay beside the tracks and with his son by his side, proceeded to show him how to put the train back on the tracks.

That’s one way we can think about the incarnation, the coming of God, how God comes to us as a child.  The human race has derailed from sin.  We’ve all had a few boxes in our paths.  We need to be put back on the right track in life.  It just couldn’t be done from up above – God has to come down beside us in order to put us back on track.


May you have a blessed Christmas!