I love Christmastime! Yes, I know Jesus wasn't actually born December 25, but I still think more about Jesus' birth at this time of the year than any other.

What an awesome thing it was that our Almighty God became a helpless mewling infant! And yet I think many people get so caught up in the "cuteness" of the Baby Jesus that they forget about the other half of the story--that He came for one purpose--to die for our sins, and to pay the price for our rebellion against God.

So, just as a reminder that the Baby in the Manger isn't the crux of the story:

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he bore our griefs
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.

Hallelujah for that!