Christmas 2019: How does God Respond to Us?

In the genealogy of Matthew's Gospel, we hear the names of the heroes of the faith who are among Jesus's "spiritual family". Yet Jesus doesn't just come out of a history of saints but also great sinners. We, of course, when we are honest with ourselves, must acknowledge the presence within us not only a desire for God but also a sinfulness that makes it very difficult to become the person we desire to be. What is God's response to so much ambiguity and infidelity on our part? We learn it on Christmas Day. His response to our sinfulness is not anger, or condemnation, or disappointment, or giving up on us. Rather, His response to us is giving us his Son Jesus, the little babe in Bethlehem. If God responds to us with merciful love in Jesus, how will we respond back to Him?