“Don’t take it personally.” Has anyone ever said those words to you after saying something that you did, indeed, take personally. Faculty, staff, friends, students can all say things that might offend or hurt us. But what if I told you that Christmas is the perfect time to take things personally? John the Baptist takes the stage in our verses today from the Gospel of Luke. He was foretold way back in the book of Isaiah, and here we find him “preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” I love John’s ministry because it had such a laser focus: point people to Christ. Just as in Advent we look for the coming of the Savior, the Baptizer spent his time paving and preparing the way for the coming Messiah.

John took the coming of the Savior personally. He knew what it meant for the world, yes. He’s even the narrator of one of the more famous passages in Scripture: “Look the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” (John 1:19) As wonderful as it is to consider God’s love for the whole world, John also knew what it meant for him as an individual. He wasn’t preaching a message of repentance only for others, but knew he personally needed it as well. John even told the crowds that he was not even worthy to untie the sandals of Jesus. He knew his sin and he still looked for and proclaimed the Messiah boldly. His unworthiness didn’t make him run away from Jesus, but rather to him. John’s repentance made him look at his sin so that he could truly look at his Savior.

Repentance is personal. It can be uncomfortable and painful to relive our shortcomings and failures to live up to God’s perfect measuring stick. This Christmas season, I encourage you to truly reflect on why God had to send his son Jesus in the first place. Galatians 4:4 says, “But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.” Our sin is personal, but so is God’s grace. He knows your sins, every one of them, and he forgave you fully. Maybe John the Baptist felt so personally connected to Jesus because they were actually cousins- part of the same family. In Galatians, we see that we, too, get that same personal relationship since we have been adopted into God’s family as his sons and daughters.

Don’t be afraid of repentance this Advent. Seeing our sin only helps us see our Savior more clearly. Verse 6 says “And all people will see God’s salvation.” Don’t run away from your sins this Advent, run to the Father and experience the fullness of God’s grace that covers our guilt and shame. Take it personally, friends, our repentance is met with the open, forgiving arms of Jesus.