How to Celebrate Christmas and Honor Jesus Christ
Millions of people all around the world celebrate the Christmas season, although not everyone celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. Even so, the Christmas holiday season is a big deal in the lives of many, many people, but fewer and fewer people remember what the true celebration is all about. The easiest answer is to say that the true meaning of Christmas is the celebration of Jesus Christ, our Messiah, but that answer is only partially accurate!
So much emphasis is put into the “baby Jesus” aspect of Christmas, and the gold, frankincense and myrrh and the angels singing when really, the gift that God sent to earth was the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ! As a believer, you can show the world how to celebrate Christmas by sharing the true gift God sent: Salvation!
“Cancel” Christmas by Celebrating Salvation
There’s nothing inherently “wrong” with celebrating Christmas, but as you prepare, use your conversations and opportunities to share with others that you’re not celebrating the “baby Jesus”- you’re celebrating Jesus Christ, the Messiah, who came to earth to broker PEACE between sinful man and holy God! It was God’s intention all along to be reconciled to mankind in relationship- a relationship that was broken by Adam (and if not Adam, then it would have been broken by any one of us!) in the Garden of Eden because of sin. When Jesus died, once and for all, the chasm of sin that separated God and man was closed. That is why we celebrate His birth- because His birth represents His death.
[We celebrate the birth of Jesus] because His birth represents the great, wide, high, faithful love of God to come and get us
Jesus Christ proves the great, wide, high, faithful love of God to come and get us. The Cross and the manger both represent the plan of salvation for the people of God. That is why the angels celebrated- not because Jesus was born, but because His birth represented God’s great love to offer us an opportunity to be born again! God waited thousands of years and get everything into place so His Son could come and mediate a “new and better covenant” than the old one under the Law (check it out: Hebrews 8:6, 9:15, 12:24). We give gifts not to represent the gifts Jesus got when He was born, but because God sent His gift to us when He sent His Son, not to be born, but to DIE. THAT is true love!
Thought for today: The Simple Meaning of Christmas is the Most Profound
The angels sang of Jesus’ birth not because they liked to sing at birthdays. No! They worshipped God because they knew: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” This is why we, too, worship God. We sing and worship not because Jesus was a good Man who did good things. We sing and worship at Christmas (even though Jesus wasn’t born in December!), and give gifts and remember His birth because He brought salvation to the lost and dying world. He took the punishment we deserved. Jesus Christ broke the power of sin, death, hell and the grave and we worship because He willingly was born to die, so that He could save us!
All of the Christmas “extras” outside of Jesus Christ don’t represent the true meaning of Christmas and are a distraction that detract from God’s beautiful intent: salvation. Of course the enemy would try to refocus attention on anything else other than Jesus Christ because he was aware that one day Jesus would crush his head (Genesis 3:15) and then would give us authority to do it too! (Romans 16:20) At Christmas, we celebrate what God gave us – the gift of His Son, Jesus, yes, but the true meaning of Christmas is something much deeper. The gift isn’t Jesus. The gift of God, through Jesus, is salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9), reconciliation, and peace between God and man.
Explore the Deeper Meanings of Christmas and the Work of Jesus Christ:
- “The Cross and the Manger: How the Birth of Jesus Christ Told of His Death”
- “Where is the “Peace on Earth” That Jesus Came to Bring?”
- “Are You Still Searching for the King of the Jews?”
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