One of the wonderful characteristics of God is His authorship. It’s hard not to be reminded of it when we open Scripture and read the very first verse: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1 NLT, emphasis added). As we read on we can see God’s hand behind everything that exists—including us! From the dirt God formed Adam, and from Adam’s side He formed Eve.

It’s hard to believe our origination as the human race was dirt, a piece of rib, and the hands and breath of God. How different can those things be from one another?! Yet God used both the natural and supernatural to make Adam and Eve, and the only reason it worked was because it was done by God.

Where else can we see this authorship?

Like creation, our faith exists because God is at the starting point. Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross made relationship with God possible, because when Jesus gave Himself up for the world, He tore the veil between us and God. Before this, no Jew was able to have access to God except through the temple priests as mediators, and Gentiles were only seen as “God-fearers” and not part of His people. But when Jesus died and rose again three days later, He changed everything. Through Him our sin was paid for, allowing for the first time since the fall of Adam and Eve a full relational restoration. His existence could abide in and with us again without our sin blocking the way because He became our sin and removed it.

This is the fullness of the Father’s authorship—when we turned away and chose our sin, Christ chose us. Jesus uses the dirt and bones in our individual lives—our past, uncertainties, and imperfections to name a few—paired with the breath-of-life miracle of the cross to bring out our fully restored story with Him. And when we invite Jesus into our lives, we accept His offer to be the Author of our faith and the continuous Perfector of it. The truth is that none of us can do it on our own—we all need help getting our faith started and help maintaining it throughout the journey. So this is His promise: when we abide in Him, He will remain in us and perfect us along the way.

As we reflect on the meaning of the Advent season, we can thank Jesus for His willingness to sacrifice Himself on the cross and His faithfulness to never leave us or forsake us in our journeys with Him! Regardless of where you find yourself on your journey, this Christmas, will you let Jesus continue to perfect your story?