Kindness and Severity in the Manger

Despite the feeling you get when you hear "Frosty the Snowman" by The Jackson Five, Christmas is not about warm and fuzzies. Christmas is about wrath and peace. Christmas is about kindness and severity. As Paul reminded the church in Rome,

Therefore, consider God’s kindness and severity: severity toward those who have fallen but God’s kindness toward you —if you remain in His kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off.

This is the story of Christmas. This is the story of the gospel. The Incarnation is good news of great joy to those who repent and trust in Christ. But it is a mighty blow of terror to those blinded by sin's darkness. God's severity lands on the unrepentant. But the good news of Christmas, the beauty of the gospel, is that Jesus came to bring kindness to those who trust in Him.

There is kindness and severity in the manger this Christmas.