By Jake McCall

Have you ever gone out of your way to be close to someone else? A former boss of mine once moved from California to Birmingham because the girl that he had fallen for moved to Birmingham for medical school. This man’s Californian family thought he had lost his mind to leave southern California for central Alabama. We think people in California are crazy—well, they think we’re crazy too.

Jesus left the perfect city and the perfect fellowship of the Father and the Spirit to go somewhere else. He left the heavenly throne to come here. And it wasn’t just that he came here. He was born of a virgin and next to a pig trough, meaning that he was born into scandal and into filth. Once born, his family had to flee to Egypt because the authorities were slaughtering Jewish babies, hoping that one of them was Jesus. By taking on human flesh and blood, he experienced the brokenness and challenges of being a human. He would hunger, sweat, cry, get tired, bleed and even die. At his earthly home, Jesus was persecuted and misunderstood, and soon, even questioned by his own family. This was no place for him.

This was not how the King of the World should live. But this was how far Christ was willing to travel and how far he was willing to fall in order to be with us. The Advent season represents God going out of his way and going to a place unfit for him so that he could be Immanuel, “God with us.” The birth of Christ proves his affection for his people and his longing to be near us.

But that is not where his pursuit ends, because he continually comes after us. If he is putting people in your life that are telling you about him, then he is pursuing you. If words or verses in Scripture ever resonate with you, then he is pursuing you. If you are wanting to be pursued by God, then he is pursuing you.

I hope this Christmas season will be a constant reminder of the lengths that Christ was willing to go to in order to rescue people who didn’t even want him to come. And because we are still celebrating Christmas over 2,000 years later, his pursuit continues.

—Jake McCall is a religion columnist for The Clanton Advertiser. He is the pastor at Grace Fellowship Presbyterian Church. His column appears each Thursday.