Can you believe it? Another Christmas season is almost here! We’re all getting very excited…right? Well, at least the kids are! Why is that? Why aren’t we all enthusiastic about Christmas? Could it be that we’ve developed the wrong response to Christmas? I’ve found and actually learned that my response to Christmas is directly connected to my belief about what Christmas really is. When I truly accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior, I began to understand the true meaning of the Christmas season.
I found that John 3:16 was God’s gift to the world! That Christmas was really about a Savior and not a store! Christmas is about THE GIFT on a tree rather than under the tree! Christmas is Emmanuel…. “God with us”. One reason so many do not response to the Christ of Christmas is that we’re so preoccupied with our business. After all, we must buy everyone we know a gift for Christmas! There are so many choices but so little time. Therefore, we become pressured to just get something! Anything….doesn’t matter as long as it’s wrapped and checked off my list!! Bah humbug! We have to be here and over there…..eat this and eat that….again and again! (Can someone say treadmill?)
Think about the innkeeper and his response to Joseph and Mary. He wasn’t hostile or negative to them but he was so preoccupied with the crowds and his business that he missed Christmas right before his eyes! There’s actually no room in “our hearts” for Christmas because our overcrowded interests are already preoccupied! Another group’s response may be hostility toward the sacred side of Christmas. After all, a baby lying in a manager can be frightfully offensive! But like King Herod, many feel Jesus the Messiah is a threat to them. Their response to the Christ of Christmas is that it’s okay if you keep Jesus in your stained-glass windows or upon the ole rugged cross. But, don’t you religious fanatics ever let Him come down and trouble our lives! We’re an intelligent and progressive society. Herod’s order to destroy the Christ of Christmas eventually led to Pilates command to crucify the reason for Christmas!
So, how should we respond to Christmas you ask? Do you remember the old priest in the temple named Simeon? He had waited for the Messiah for many years. When baby Jesus was brought to the temple to be dedicated Simeon took the child in his arms and said to God, “Now You are letting your servant depart in peace…..for my eyes have seen Your salvation” (Lk. 2:29-30). This man had embraced God’s plan and gift to the world. God’s gift of salvation through the death and resurrection of His sacrificial Son, Jesus! That my friend is the proper response to Christmas!
How will you responding to Christmas? Are you so preoccupied with your busy life that you’ll just side-track Christmas? Are you hostile or rude to those who truly celebrate in joyful response to the real meaning of Christmas? Or have you embraced and received the Christ of Christmas? Maybe you were like me and didn’t know the true meaning of Christmas until I personally met the “Christ” of Christmas.
I was kind of like the “Grinch” until God revealed Himself to me through His Son. Remember how the Grinch responded: “Maybe Christmas doesn’t come from a store….maybe; just maybe Christmas perhaps means a little bit more.” Good response! What’s your response to the greatest “gift” ever given to the entire world? Merry Christmas! – Pastor Dusty McLemore
