“Daddy! Hey Daddy! Can you see me? I’m over here!”

My daughter yelled at the top of her lungs to my husband. He was across the park and we were inside the fence at our neighborhood pool. When she saw him walking in the distance she jumped from her chair and used all her might to get his attention.

When he finally heard her voice and waved, she cried, “He sees me! He sees me! Daddy sees me, Mom!”  

I was transported back to a text from a friend that very morning. My friend was exhausted, broken under the burden of the hard calling of motherhood. “Does God even see me?” she wondered.

She has six kids, one with significant special needs. She not only cares for her children who span in age from toddler to teenager, but she is also a full-time nurse for her daughter who can do very little for herself. She gives away every morsel of her energy and time to her kids.

“Does God even see me?” was her heart’s cry.

WE LONG TO BE SEEN

Our powerlessness dawns on us from the earliest of days. A skinned knee, divorced parents, a bully on the playground—these are all painful circumstances outside of our control. We are not sovereign, we realize.

Sin, sickness, and fractured relationships leave a mark in this broken world. Our thoughts tumble out: Why is this so hard? It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Where is the success and satisfaction I thought I would have by now? Where is God in this?

Our fragility and God’s supremacy collide. Where is our Maker? “Daddy, can you see me?” The question is universal, crossing socio-economic lines, ethnicities, career fields, ages and stages, nationalities, and genders. No matter who we are or what we’re going through, we wonder if we are seen.

To be seen is to be known. It is to be understood. It is to have our circumstances measured, our burdens weighed, our situations assessed and appreciated. To be seen is to be hopeful, expectant.

CHRISTMAS: GOD CAME DOWN

“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son” (Gal. 4:4). The birth of our Savior in a manger in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago was the ultimate act of God seeing his people. Our God does not stand far off—he came down.

In every other religion, it’s the other way around: humans must strive to reach their god. They work to earn favor, never knowing for certain if their efforts will suffice. Religious people all over the globe pour themselves out, trusting it will be enough to get blessings in this life and the next. They cry out, “Do you see me?” with the expectation that their deeds are tallied—hopefully more in the good column than the bad.

But our God poured himself out for us. He knew the divide was too wide, the chasm too distant. He knew our deeds would never be good enough and plentiful enough for us to reach him. Our sin and his perfection would never meet unless he intervened.

Because of the great love with which he loved us (Eph. 2:4), God came to us. Jesus did not insist on staying on his throne in heaven, reveling in the glory and worship that is his due. Rather, he put on flesh, was born in a manger to a humble family, and walked this dirty, broken earth to rescue you and me (Phil. 2:5–11). Our God: a baby boy in Bethlehem.

Christmas sets Christianity apart from all other religions and worldviews. Christmas means God saw us, saw our need, and came down. We are a people of undeserved and amazing grace. The very first Christmas was our God shouting, “I see you! I love you! I am coming to you!”

CHRISTMAS: GOD IS WITH US

Not only did our God see us and come to us but he also stays with us. Even beyond his birth and earthly life, he is Immanuel—God with us.

Thirty-three years after his humble birth in a manger, Jesus saw that his disciples were afraid to be alone. He assured them, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever” (John 14:16). Jesus promised the Holy Spirit would come and dwell with us and be in us (v. 17).

God in heaven saw not only that we needed a rescuer but also that we needed a comforter. He sent his Son to identify with us and to rescue us, and then he sent his Spirit to live in us, to help us, to teach us, and to give us peace (John 14:26–27).

For those who are in Christ, the Holy Spirit grows us and changes us from the inside out, even now. It is by his indwelling power that we are transformed, one degree at a time, into the image of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 3:18). In fact, with his Spirit in us, we can’t help but grow. The unseen work of the Spirit is slow, but steady, and its fruit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal. 5:22–23).

Because of Christmas, even in our doubt, discouragement, and dark days, we have a Helper. By the kindness and power of the Holy Spirit, we are learning, growing, and changing. Christmas means God is with us, even today, 2,000 years after this baby was born in Bethlehem.  

CHRISTMAS: GOD IS COMING AGAIN

The Holy Spirit not only bears fruit in us right now but he also seals us for the future. He is “the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory” (Eph. 1:14). We who are in Christ are also co-heirs with Christ and we eagerly await all of the riches in heaven. Our God came to us, lives in us, and he promises to come again and be with us forever.

When Jesus walked the earth the first time, he said he would come back. He promised that he would return to earth with great power and glory to gather all people who have trusted him (Matt. 24:29–31). He came once, fulfilling thousands of years of promises, so we can trust that he will come again, fulfilling this promise too.

About those future promises, the Apostle Paul said, “But, as it is written, ‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him’—these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit” (1 Cor. 2:9–10). The Holy Spirit seals us and confirms that heaven awaits us.

The Bible tells us there will be a new heaven and a new earth where we will be rejoicing forever. God will be with us and there will be no weeping and no distress. There will be no death. We will live and work and enjoy the work of our hands. Wolves and lambs will lie down together (Isa. 65:17–65).

This consummation of creation is beyond our imagination, but Christmas means Jesus is coming again and we have an eternity of rejoicing to look forward to.

GOD SEES US AND HE IS NEAR

That day last summer when my hurting friend texted me, I gently reminded her that God does indeed see her. I encouraged her to call on him just as my daughter would call on her dad later that same day. Because of Christmas, we can call on our Father in heaven. Christmas shows us we are seen and beloved sons and daughters.

When our hearts cry out, “God, do you see me?” we must only remember Christmas. Christmas is proof that we have been seen, that God lives in us, and that he is coming again. What a gift, what assurance, and what joy to know that yes, God sees us.

This Christmas let the blessed baby in a manger remind you that God sees you. He knows the weight of your burdens and the contents of your days. And in his seeing, he doesn’t stand far off. He came down. He dwells in us. He promises to come again.

Author’s Note: This article first appeared at GCD in December 2019.