1225 祂的降生和我们的新生
必有童女，怀孕生子，人要称他的名为以马内利。（以马内利翻出来，就是神与我们同在。）《马太福音1:23》
祂在历史中的诞生。「…所要生的圣者必称为神的儿子。」（路加福音 1:35）。耶稣基督降生到这个世界，而非从这个世界而出并非源自这个世界。祂并非从历史中自然出现；祂是从历史之外进入历史。耶稣基督并非人类可夸耀最优秀的人类——祂是人类无法为之感到自豪或归功于自己的存在。祂不是人变成神，而是神成了肉身——神从历史之外进入人类肉身。祂的生命是至高至圣的，从最卑微的门进入这个世界。我们主的诞生是降临——神以人的形式出现。
祂在我里面诞生。「我小子啊，我为你们再受生产之苦，直等到基督成形在你们心里。」（加拉太书 4:19）。正如我们的主从外面进入人类历史，祂也必须外面进入我里面。我是否允许我个人的生命成为神儿子的「伯利恒」？除非我的重生而从上而生，是通过一种完全不同于身体的出生，否则我不能进入神的国。
「你们必须重生」（约翰福音 3:7）。这不是命令，而是基于神权柄的事实。新生的证据是，我如此完全降服于神，以至于「基督成形在我里面」。一旦「基督成形在我里面」，祂的本性就立刻开始在我身上发挥作用。
神在肉身中显现。这正是通过耶稣基督对人类的救赎，神道成肉身对你和我来说才可能体验如此深刻。
来自章伯斯的智慧
我们开始我们基督徒的生活是通过相信被告知要相信的事情，然后我们必须继续如此同化我们的信仰，以至于它们以一种回响神荣耀的方式产生结果。危险是在于我们越来越接受我们自己没有活出的信念。《改变像祂的样式》
1225 His Birth and Our New Birth
“Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.” —Matthew 1:23
His Birth in History. “…that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God (Luke 1:35). Jesus Christ was born into this world, not from it. He did not emerge out of history; He came into history from the outside. Jesus Christ is not the best human being the human race can boast of— He is a Being for whom the human race can take no credit at all. He is not man becoming God, but God Incarnate— God coming into human flesh from outside it. His life is the highest and the holiest entering through the most humble of doors. Our Lord’s birth was an advent— the appearance of God in human form.
His Birth in Me. “My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you…” (Galatians 4:19). Just as our Lord came into human history from outside it, He must also come into me from outside. Have I allowed my personal human life to become a “Bethlehem” for the Son of God? I cannot enter the realm of the kingdom of God unless I am born again from above by a birth totally unlike physical birth. “You must be born again” (John 3:7). This is not a command, but a fact based on the authority of God. The evidence of the new birth is that I yield myself so completely to God that “Christ is formed” in me. And once “Christ is formed” in me, His nature immediately begins to work through me.
God Evident in the Flesh. This is what is made so profoundly possible for you and for me through the redemption of man by Jesus Christ.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We begin our Christian life by believing what we are told to believe, then we have to go on to so assimilate our beliefs that they work out in a way that redounds to the glory of God. The danger is in multiplying the acceptation of beliefs we do not make our own. Conformed to His Image, 381 L