CHRISTMAS

Is "Christ" a part of it?

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

We are all familiar with the story of Jesus’ birth. At least those who celebrate Christmas should be. However, how would you like it if people came together to celebrate your birthday but never once mentioned your name? If they gave gifts to each other, but never gave you anything? If they made someone else the center of your birthday celebration instead of you?

This is what we do when we leave Jesus out of the Christmas celebration. So, you ask, what can we give Jesus? We can give Him our lives, we can give Him our worship, we can give Him our praise. In our giving, we can also remember to give to the churches that work to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Jesus has a special love for little children. He said, “suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God” (Luke 18:16). Unfortunately, too many little children are taught the myth of Santa Claus and not about the truth of Jesus. As a result, they thank Santa Claus for their blessings and not Jesus. I would be concerned about telling my children the big lie of Santa Claus. It would concern me that they may find it difficult to believe the things that I tell them, once they find out that I deliberately lied to them for years.

So much of the Christmas music we hear is about Santa Claus and not about Jesus. The world wants the things that are a part of the celebrations of Christmas but do not want to acknowledge the one who the celebration is about…Jesus Christ who was born to save mankind from their sins. To acknowledge Jesus at Christmas means we have to acknowledge who He is and what He stands for.

We who know Jesus and understand the true meaning of Christmas have a responsibility to keep Christ in Christmas. Christmas is a great time to start a conversation about Christ. A great time to share our testimony about what Jesus has done for us. While the world is celebrating “Christmas”, they should be more receptive to hearing about the one whose name is a part of the word.

Tell them God loves them and wants to have a personal relationship with them through Jesus Christ. Let them know why Jesus was born.

I pray that you will have a joy-filled Christmas celebration. We can be truly thankful that Jesus came to set us free.