Fly on the Wall

“I wouldn’t mind being a fly on the wall there today!”  I wonder if you’ve ever used an expression like that.  Perhaps you wanted to be a witness to the moment two people were meeting up, or when somebody was being told a particular piece of news.  As a fly on the wall you would have a great view of the event, but more importantly an unnoticed one.  We’re all a bit inquisitive – nosy – aren’t we, so if we haven’t said it, we’ve probably thought it.

    When we think about it, it is actually a daft thing to wish for.  Who would really want to change places with a fly?  They don’t seem to have much of a life do they?  And in most of our houses that life wouldn’t last long as we’d soon get out the fly spray, or clobber the insect with a rolled up copy of the Argus.  It’s far better to be a human being.  To become a fly we would have to give up our intellect, skills, emotions, thought processes and so much more.

    It’s Christmas time again, and so we as Christians are beginning once more to celebrate the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ.  When we think of what the true message of the season really is, we are reminded just what an amazing truth it is.  God became man.  Without for a moment letting go of His God-ness, the Son of God chose to become man.  He took a frail human body and came to live on the planet that he had created.  The One who was eternal became a helpless infant.  He gave up the glory of life in Heaven with His Father, a life He had enjoyed eternally.  He gave up the worship of the countless angels that live there – worship that was rightfully his.  He came into a world spoilt by sin, a world of pain and death, and suffered the rejection of men and women who would not believe in him, and who eventually would execute Him. 

    For you and I to become a fly would be a major thing, but we would be simply exchanging one created form for another.  Though man is the highpoint of God’s creation, he is but a creature, made in the image of God.  But at the first Christmas the creator stepped into the world He had made.  God became man, a far greater transformation than you becoming a fly! That should really blow our minds.  It should cause us, along with the shepherds, their angelic visitors and the wise men, to adore and worship.

    That is particularly so because of the purpose of the incarnation.  The Lord Jesus Christ came into the world “to save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).  The incarnation happened for our salvation.  You and I have fallen short of God’s glory and broken His perfect law.  Because of that we are rightly under His condemnation.  Nothing we can say or do can change that.  It took the incarnation and the atonement on the cross that follows to give us a hope.  He came from Heaven to earth, so that we might go one day from earth to heaven.

    So don’t get lost this December amongst all the tinsel, turkey and TV!  Thank God for the incarnation, and worship the One it’s all about.