“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God.”
Luke 1:35 (NLT)
When the angel appeared to Mary, he declared something impossible. She would conceive and give birth to the Son of God. Confused, she asked the only reasonable question: How can this happen? I am a virgin. The answer reveals the heart of Christmas: the Holy Spirit would come upon her, and the power of God would overshadow her. The miracle of Jesus entering the world did not come through human effort, but through divine power.
What stopped me in my tracks this week was the language: the Holy Spirit will come upon you. Jesus used those same words in Acts when speaking to His disciples: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.” The same process that placed Jesus inside Mary is the process God uses to place Jesus inside us. Christmas is not only about the gift of a Savior born — it is about the gift of Christ living within.
We celebrate that God loved us so much He sent His Son. But He also promised something more. When we believe in Jesus, we do not only receive forgiveness and new life — we receive the Holy Spirit Himself. God does not simply tell us how to live; He empowers us to live it. We are not sent into the world as witnesses with good intentions alone, but with heaven’s own strength dwelling inside us.
If it was a big deal for the Holy Spirit to come upon Mary and place Jesus inside her, then it is a big deal when the Holy Spirit comes upon us and places the life of Christ within us. Today, do not only celebrate that Jesus came to earth. Celebrate that He has come to you. Yield to the Holy Spirit. The Gift within you is still changing the world.