About Bailey Vega

Colossians 3:15-18 (VOICE) says of Jesus:

“He is the exact image of the invisible God, the firstborn of creation, the eternal. It was by Him that everything was created: the heavens, the earth, all things within and upon them, all things seen and unseen, thrones and dominions, spiritual powers and authorities. Every detail was crafted through His design, by His own hands, and for His purposes. He has always been! It is His hand that holds everything together.”

Isn’t that just astonishing?

In light of the great glory of God, the first few lines of the hymn “Jesus Came, Heavens Adoring” ring so true when I think of the amount of humility that was involved in Jesus’ birth:

“Jesus came, the heavens adoring,
Came with peace from realms on high;
Jesus came for man’s redemption,
Lowly came on earth to die;
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Came in deep humility.”

One of the many things that is so beautiful about Jesus is that although He is mighty and all powerful and the King of Kings, He also calls us friends:

“Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends .You are My friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.”  (John 15:13-15 NASB)

The idea that God is disdainful and angry with us is a tragic lie that I used to believe. Jesus’s birth was an extravagant display of the love that He has for us. He came “from realms on high,” took on the human condition, and came to live in this broken world so that He could save it. Jesus’ birth was an absolute wonder, overflowing with His indescribable love for us. One of my hopes for this advent season is to focus on and celebrate the joy, hope, peace, and affectionate grace that Jesus brought to us by coming to Earth and saving us. I pray that God will overflow our hearts with delight and gratitude for the story of His first coming.

“This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.” – Matthew 1:18-25 (NIV)

He is holy and unmatched in majesty, yet He is Immanuel, God with us. What great cause for celebration we have for this advent season!

“Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!” – 2 Corinthians 9:15 NIV

Jesus Came, The Heavens Adoring
Words by: Godfrey Thring

Jesus came, the heavens adoring,
Came with peace from realms on high;
Jesus came for man’s redemption,
Lowly came on earth to die;
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Came in deep humility.

Jesus comes again in mercy
When our hearts are bowed with care;
Jesus comes again in answer
To an earnest, heartfelt prayer;
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Comes to save us from despair.

Jesus comes to hearts rejoicing,
Bringing news of sins forgiven;
Jesus comes in sounds of gladness,
Leading souls redeemed to heaven.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Now the gate of death is riven.

Jesus comes in joy and sorrow,
Shares alike our hopes and fears;
Jesus comes, whate’er befalls us,
Glads our hearts, and dries our tears;
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Cheering e’en our failing years.

Jesus comes on clouds triumphant
When the heavens shall pass away;
Jesus comes again in glory.
Let us, then, our homage pay,
Alleluia! ever singing
Till the dawn of endless day.

Credit: Photo by Rachel K Duncan // http://www.rachelkduncan.com // Instagram: @rachelkduncan

There is a story in Luke 1 about Mary going to visit her cousin Elizabeth shortly after she is told by the angel Gabriel that she will give birth to Jesus. Elizabeth’s husband had been visited by this same angel many months before this, and he was told that his wife would conceive a son named John, who would “be great in the sight of the Lord” (Luke 1:13-17 NIV).

Elizabeth and her husband were very old, and they had never been able to have children before.  Upon Mary’s arrival at Elizabeth’s home, the Bible says:

^“When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her” (Luke 1:41-45).

After this Mary responded, “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.” (v. 46-48).

This passage speaks a couple of things to me: there is great joy to be found in Jesus, and we are blessed when believe that He is good. 

We all know that worrying and doubting is certainly not a joyous condition. I’m learning that when we choose to focus on God’s faithfulness and believe that He is the loving God He says is, joy is a natural result. Mary and Elizabeth knew this first hand. Their reactions to God promising to do something in their lives were not doubt and fear, but praise and expectation.

I love that the first thing the angel said to Mary when he appeared to her was, “Greetings, you who are highly favored!” (Luke 1:28) and that the last thing he said was, “For no word from God will ever fail” (v.38).

We, too, are highly favored and loved dearly as daughters of God, and we can trust Him when He says “in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28 NIV). He truly means it when He says He has “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV). We can trust God when we remember that He loves us beyond what we could ever understand and have faith that because He loves us so much, He wants to take care of us and to demonstrate His perfectly faithful character.

As we focus on the Lord this advent season and every day, I pray that He will reveal the joy that He offers us through faith in His goodness and His love for us. When we acknowledge that God is a good God who promises to lovingly take care of us, we are able to view things more light-heartedly, and our lives are blessed with joy.

“For the Lord God is a sun and shield;

the Lord bestows favor and honor;

no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.

O Lord Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you.” 

(Psalm 84:11-12 NIV)

Lo! He Comes, An Infant Stranger
Words by: Richard Mant

Lo! he comes, an infant stranger, of a lowly mother born,
Swathed and cradled in a manger, of his pristine glory shorn!
Hallelujah! hallelujah! hallelujah! Praise the incarnate Word of God!

Lo! he comes, by man unfriended, fain with stable-beast to rest;
Shepherds, who their night-fold tended, hailed alone the new-born guest.
Hallelujah! hallelujah! hallelujah! Praise ye Jesse’s tender rod!

Lo! he comes; but who the weakness of his coming may declare,
When, with more than human meekness, more than human woes he bare?
Hallelujah! hallelujah! hallelujah! Praise him, emptied of his might!

Lo! he comes, around him pouring all the armies of the sky;
Cherub-, seraph-host, adoring, swell his state and loudly cry:
Hallelujah! hallelujah! hallelujah! Praise ye him, the living Light!

Credit: Photo by Rachel K Duncan // http://www.rachelkduncan.com  // Instagram: @rachelkduncan

“Come, Thou Redeemer of the Earth!”

I really love the title of this hymn and all that it encompasses. I have realized that are a couple distinct situations in my own life that usually end with me feeling far away from God and longing for the Redeemer of my soul to come near.

Sometimes, I look for fulfilment in all the wrong places, and I settle for something less than Jesus. Once I finally turn my eyes from the world I’ve been so preoccupied with, it can feel like waking up in a lonely desert wasteland where the ground cracks open with thirst, all alone and vastly distant from the presence of Jesus. Other times, I’m just caught up in doubt, and I find myself asking, “God, where are You?”

The Lord has gently been reminding me that these are just feelings. Maybe we feel like we’ve traveled miles and miles from His presence, or maybe we doubt because we can’t physically perceive Him, but in reality, He has always been incomprehensibly near, constantly surrounding us with His deep and irreversible love for us.

I’m reading a book right now called “Becoming Myself: Embracing God’s Dream of You” by Stasi Eldredge (which I highly recommend). In many of the beautifully vulnerable prayers that she has written throughout the book, she leads readers to simply asks Jesus to “come” for us. To come into various memories, into our brokenness, and to the various areas of our existence so that we can be healed.

Something profound that Jesus has shown me through this process is that He does come for us- every day of our lives.

His promise of Him coming back for us one day is as sure as His promise that He is here now. He declares His endless presence in Matthew 28:20 (AMP):

“…and lo, I am with you always [remaining with you perpetually—regardless of circumstance and on every occasion], even to the end of the age.”

It is even shown in the lovely verses of Psalm 139:7-10 (NIV):

“Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.”

He will faithfully meet us in our sorrows, our victories, our quiet moments, our loneliness, our joys, our boredom, and in our fears. Even through our distraction and doubt, He is immeasurably and infinitely near.

I love the longing for Jesus’ first coming that is beautifully resonated in the lines of hymns like “Come Though Redeemer of the Earth!” I think that they can be interpreted both as holy anthems of our desire for Jesus to come back for us, as well as a demonstration of our longing for Jesus to come and be with us in the here and now. I want to joyfully look forward to the day when our Redeemer of the earth will come back for us and we will physically perceive His closeness. I also want to remember what God has already done, how He came and still comes, and have faith that He is nearer than we can comprehend, even in this very moment.

Come, Thou Redeemer of the Earth
Words by: Saint Ambrose of Milan

Come, Thou Redeemer of the earth,
And manifest Thy virgin birth:
Let every age adoring fall;
Such birth befits the God of all.

Begotten of no human will,
But of the Spirit, Thou art still
The Word of God in flesh arrayed,
The promised Fruit to man displayed.

The virgin womb that burden gained
With virgin honor all unstained;
The banners there of virtue glow;
God in His temple dwells below.

Forth from His chamber goeth He,
That royal home of purity,
A giant in twofold substance one,
Rejoicing now His course to run.

From God the Father He proceeds,
To God the Father back He speeds;
His course He runs to death and hell,
Returning on God’s throne to dwell.

O equal to the Father, Thou!
Gird on Thy fleshly mantle now;
The weakness of our mortal state
With deathless might invigorate.

Thy cradle here shall glitter bright,
And darkness breathe a newer light,
Where endless faith shall shine serene,
And twilight never intervene.

All laud to God the Father be,
All praise, eternal Son, to Thee;
All glory, as is ever meet,
To God the Holy Paraclete.