Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
A local newspaper carried the story of a little Jewish boy age 6 who was fascinated by a Christmas tree. Not the ordinary ornaments and lights, but the little figurine of the Baby Jesus lying in a manger. He liked it so much that he took it off the tree, stole it if you please. When his mother had him bring it back, she kindly explained to him, "Son, some religions--like ours--are different; they don't have the Baby Jesus." His response: "Then why don't we get the religion that has the Baby Jesus?"
I can only hope that his childish heart will always hunger for the religion that has Him.
"The religion that has the Baby Jesus" believes, understands, appreciates, is thankful, that the Son of God came to earth and began His life here as a Baby, subject to all the trials and heartaches that every human baby grows up to experience, "yet without sin."
Was He tempted from within, as we are tempted from within? Or was He tempted only from without, as the adult sinless Adam was tempted in the Garden of Eden? Thank God, He won ourbattle, not merely Adam's battle. He tells us, Yes, He was tempted from within: "I can of Myself do nothing. ... I do not seek My own will, but the will of the Father who sent Me" (John 5:30). "I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me" (6:38). "Christ did not please Himself" (Rom. 15:3).
You say that there was no inner conflict, that it was easy for Him to "not seek [His] own will, but" the Father's will for Him? Think of Gethsemane where the lid came off and we can see inside His tortured soul: "O my Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will" (Matt. 26:39).
Only an outward struggle, not internal? What about the agonized bloody sweat that came with that prayer of self-surrender? He tells us He "took" a self as we have a self to contend with (Heb. 2:11, 14, King James Version); but whereas we have allyielded to self and thus have been selfish, He perfectly denied self all His life--from His manger all the way to His cross. Thank God for "the religion of the Baby Jesus."
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: December 28, 1998.
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