It's Christmas Day and the Christmas spirit is in the air. Christmas is my favorite holiday of the year, but not because of Santa or opening presents. It's my favorite holiday because Christmas is the holiday where we celebrate the birth of the King (Luke 1:29-33): the baby who was born to a virgin (Matthew 1:22), lived a sinless life (2 Corinthians 5:21), and then was "pierced for our transgressions" (Isaiah 53:5) 33 years later. Christmas is about celebrating the gift of grace that God gave us through our savior, Jesus Christ (Luke 2:8-12). "Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord." (Luke 2:11)
The birth of Jesus was the fulfillment of the prophecies in the Old Testament. Prophecies like:
"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel." (Isaiah 7:14)
"May the desert tribes bow before him and his enemies lick the dust." (Psalm 72:9)
"'The days are coming,' declares the Lord, 'when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The Lord Our Righteous Savior.'" (Jeremiah 23:5-6)
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” (Micah 5:2)
"I will proclaim the Lord’s decree: He said to me, “You are my son; today I have become your father." (Psalm 2:7)
Christmas is about more than what's under the tree, it's about God's amazing gift of His son to mankind. Christmas presents are nice to give and receive, but we just need to remember why we celebrate December 25th. As Americans, we can get caught up in buying presents, opening presents, sporting events, etc. on Christmas Day and miss the whole meaning of Christmas. It's almost easy to get distracted because of all the stores open on Christmas Day. This is a sad thing to do, because of all of the blessings God gives us. God deserves and desires gifts from His people, a gift like spending time in the Bible or in prayer; it's a gift for the person as well as a gift to God.
While I was researching and planning this article, I found a great article on About.com titled "10 Ways to Keep Christ in Christmas"; it gave me some of the ideas I'm writing, so I would suggest reading it. Anyway, #8 on this list is my favorite: "Attend a Christmas church service together with your family". I (now more than ever) enjoy going to the Christmas Eve service at my church; I enjoy singing Christmas hymns, lighting the candles in silence, reading the account of Jesus' birth, and seeing the North star in the night sky. The North star reminds me of how faithful the Magi were in following the star they saw to see the newborn King; they had the kind of faith we all should have.
"After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route." (Matthew 2:9-12)
So Merry Christmas ,everyone. Thank you for reading my blog. In the words of Tiny Tim, from A Christmas Carol, "God bless us, everyone!"
