Tis The SeasonIt is the holiday season again. And I admit, it leaves me wondering. In the place I work we are hearing Christmas music almost constantly now. And I watch people come in and go out and I wonder, they are hearing the same music I am hearing and I wonder if they are hearing the message of Christmas when they hear the music being played.
Now let me explain what I mean. There are certainly the secular Christmas songs. I hear Jingle Bells and Rocking Around the Christmas Tree a dozen times a day (I think the music is on a play loop). But I also hear Joy To The World and Hark the Herald Angels Sing. When I hear the words proclaiming "Let Earth receive her king." I wonder if people understand why we call Jesus the King of the Earth.
For most people, Christmas is a time of year when we ought to be a little bit more generous with our charitable giving and a little bit nicer to each other. We enjoy getting with our family, exchanging gifts, and eating until we can't eat anymore. But for most people, this is all that Christmas is. Even Christians behave like this is all that there is to Christmas.
A few years ago a message than gained a certain level of popularity proclaimed "Jesus is the Reason for the Season." This is a good and true message. But it is more than a T shirt or a bumper sticker. I conveys a very real truth.
God entered into human history by entering into the world. Mankind is lost in sin and had no way to find God or to be reconciled to Him, so God did what man could not do. We could not go to Him, so He came to us. The babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger is the Incarnate God of the Universe. Jesus is the King of the World because is the Lord our God. He is the Creator of the World. He holds the world together by the power of His word.
As we Christians celebrate Christmas we are celebrating the incarnation of God into the world. This is what Christmas is about, the coming of God to the earth. If it were up to me, I'd forgo Christmas gifts and holiday meals if I could just focus all my attention on the truth that God came into the earth. God came for sinful men and women. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. "Behold we bring you glad tidings of great joy which will be to all peoples. This night, in the city of David is born a savior .. who is Christ the Lord." Glad tidings of great joy to all the peoples of the world. A savior (one to redeem us from our sins and reconcile us to God), who is the Messiah .. our God. The God-man Jesus Christ. He is the reason for the season, and we sin if we forget it.
Have a Merry Christmas but make it a Christmas centered around Jesus Christ. Christmas makes a statement about who Christ is and why He had to come. Let's not let the message be lost amid the food and festivities. Yes ... let us open our hearts to greater acts of charity. Yes ... let us strive to be a little nicer to each other, not just at Christmas but throughout the year. But above all let's remember our depravity in sin and the need for God Himself to come to the earth to make atonement for us so that we can be converted and worship Him as true sons and daughters of God. A Christmas centered around Christ ought to be the goal of every one of us. I can't think of anyone who would argue with that. Can you?
