One of the most powerful images – of the true meaning of Christmas.
Christmas is Completely Empty Without Christ. This phrase hit me like a ton of bricks this morning. It literally just popped in my head, while listening happily to Christmas music and straightening my hair. The idiom weighed on my mind like a profound thought.
Yet, it’s really not all that profound.
Christ’s name is in the word – Christmas; however, we {and I am including all Christians here} have really commercialized this holiday.
The great present chase consumes our weekends. Getting to and from family homes is scheduled and fretted over {esp on icy roads and if across the country}. We decorate our homes from top to bottom in flashing lights and make sure the stockings are ready for that overnight candy drop.
We drive around neighborhoods and look at illuminated houses adorned with dancing snowmen. We sip on hot cocoa and laugh in fellowship or lace up those skates for a lap around the frozen rink. We think of Frank Sinatra, Michael Buble or Harry Connick Jr. Christmas songs and swoon over their voices.
But, where is Christ in all this hustle, bustle and fun? We sings carols of “the holiday season,” but forsake or just ignore the true meaning of why we give gifts to each other and travel light-years to be with our families on this one special day.
I know its cliché – and especially if you grew up in church; but, “you can’t spell Christmas without Christ.” That’s a song I used to sing as a little one. Somehow it was easier for me to digest this at a young age – and now, harder as an adult. Responsibilities consume us as adults – and we get lost in the all consuming checklist: work, travel, gifts – check.
But, I don’t want to lose sight of the baby that was sent to this world to die for me. We sing ‘O Holy Night’ – but, what a holy night it truly was! God entered this world as flesh and blood – and it was all for us. It meant redemption, forgiveness and relationship. We can’t place those gifts under a Christmas tree.
How loving – Jesus is the ultimate gift; yet, his birth was a gift to us. His first breath outside of Mary’s womb was the greatest gift. He gave us a gift on his birthday. Our Christ was born with a purpose, and that purpose was to save the souls of men and women.
I pray we look at our Nativity scenes with new eyes this Christmas. I pray we don’t buy into all this holiday politically correct mumbo jumbo. Christmas is not just a holiday – it the day our lives changed forever. It’s more than a little celebration of great cheer, where you roast chestnuts and drink that warm cider.
Christmas is a life altering date. It is the day that our Savior chose to be born into this world – to begin his ultimate mission – all for love. Let’s not forsake such a beautiful sacrifice. Let’s not get lost in candy cane gifts. December 25th means painful death. It means glorious life – and the greatest of all eternity with our Lord and Savior. Amen.
“Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” – Philippians 2: 9-11
Trading Paper Crowns 