The Joy Of Christmas - Celebrate The Season
“Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
Another Christmas season is upon us! As we move closer to Christmas day, there is much to prepare; there are cards to be sent, presents to buy, meals to prepare, parties to plan, decorations to be hung, and so on and so forth. Even as I write these words, I find myself having mixed emotions. On one hand, I’m excited for Christmas to come because, after all, the song says, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” Certainly, Christmas can be fun and exciting to celebrate!
The other emotion that comes is that of exhaustion. When I look at all that I need to do to get ready for Christmas, I get overwhelmed. I feel the mounting pressure of getting the “right” gifts and struggle with the thought of pleasing everyone around me. With all of the plans that need to be made, I know there are things that I won’t be able to get done and things that will slip through the cracks. And, for me, when I can’t get everything done on my list (or at least to my satisfaction), I often feel I somehow ruined Christmas and that “it’s just not like it used to be.” When things don’t go as planned, I find myself longing for Christmases past that seemed so much more alive than today! Maybe you can relate with me.
But when I have a moment to think about my list of things to do, one glaring omission is to make myself ready to receive. My to-do list above is always full “stuff” that I have to do, yet in the Christmas story that we read above (Luke 2:10-11), Christmas has nothing to do with what I have done! Instead, it is the story of a gift that was prepared and given to me to simply receive! This gift is that of a Savior, Christ the Lord, who came to this earth in the middle of all of our fears, our anxieties, our fears of failure, our brokenness and our weakness to give us a gift…Himself. In this gift, I find that everything has been done for me, and has been done perfectly. In this gift I find salvation; Jesus has come to be my Savior, rescuing me from sin, death, and hell and granting me eternal life with Him in His Kingdom forever. This is simply a gift to be received by faith!
This gift is for you, too. Even if all of our plans to make this Christmas an amazing holiday fall short, His gift never fails! He is still our Savior, He has still rescued us from sin, He still gives us the hope of eternal life, and He still promises to be with us always. And He has done it all for us, for you! “For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord,” and because of Him, we can rest and rejoice in Him yet again!
In Christ,
Pastor Evan