This Sunday’s advent line of blessing is a six-word phrase relatively hidden in the third verse of What Child is This? The more I pondered these six words over the past week, however, the more I considered how they summarize the magnificent combination of grace and truth found in the babe-turned-man born in an obscure town.

Consider…

Be blessed. God invites us to come near, and He asks us to invite Him near as well. He will not force His way into anyone’s heart, though He certainly has the power to do so. He has chosen each of us, and He invites us to choose Him in return. Bless. We can offer that invitation to others, inviting and extending but never forcing or coercing.

Be blessed. The child was born for peasants. For those who have little wealth. For those who are just average, common people. For those who are poor in spirit. For those who are weak and downtrodden. And for those who embrace humility and simplicity. Bless. We who fully except this child and all He stands for will extend His love to all those around us, but especially to the ordinary and the hurting.

Be blessed. He was also born for kings. He is the King of kings, and yet He left the all-powerful halls of Heaven to grow in a womb and place Himself at the mercy of a paranoid monarch. Strange: no struggling peasant family would wish for another mouth to feed, and no prince should ever be born over manure-crusted dirt. Yet, there He was, born for us all…even those of us who are now, by world standards, elite and pampered. Bless. Let us remember that He came for everyone and show His love and kindness to even the “greatest” among us.

Be blessed. Which diety in any religion has every invited the worshippers of that faith to own them? Yet, here we are, being invited to own Him. It implies that we know Him completely and that He knows us completely. It implies that He comes to us and never leaves. It implies that we take a very real and fitting pride in being identified as people who have embraced Him without shame. Bless. He is the only one in the universe who can be owned by so many different hearts without being divided or diminished in any way. In fact, with each heart He enters, His power expressed and manifested in the world only grows for the good of all.

Yes, the good of all. From the greatest to the least and back again.

Yes…let our loving hearts enthrone Him.