Imagine this. A king sends his son away from the palace to live in a poor village far away. This is the prince, and the king loves him. Everything the king owns is his. Buthe grows up not having much. He has to work hard for whathe does have, living and working among ordinary people. Finally, after many years, it is time for the prince to accomplish the mission that the king sent him out for in the first place.

The prince starts telling the villagers about the king, how he cares about them and wants to make life better for them. The prince also helps the villagers himself, doing whathe can to improve their lives. Eventually, the prince tells them thathe is really the son of the king. Some believe him, and some don’t. Why would a prince who had everything come to live in a poor village, away from all the wealth and power and glory?

If this story sounds familiar, that’s because it is a lot like the story of Jesus. Jesus had everything. He was the Prince of Peace, the Lord of Lords, the King of Kings, the Son of God. He had all the goodness of heaven all the time. But He came to earth to live as one of us.

The book of Philippians says this about Jesus: “Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:6–8)

The truth is, Jesus gave up everything for us. The kinds of things we so desperately want— fame, glory, riches, praise—Jesus decided that He would rather come to earth and be with us than hang on to those things. He even decided that He would die for us. When the religious leaders who didn’t like Jesus and didn’t believe He was the Son of God finally got their way, Jesus was killed on a cross. He could have called down angels to save Him, but He didn’t. Because He wanted to save us.

Why did we need saving? Well, God loves each of us and wants to have a relationship with us. But that relationship is broken because of sin. Sin is anything we do, say, or think that is disobedient to God. It’s things like stealing, lying, and treating other people badly. The