Shopping lists, parties, parades, groceries, stocking stuffers, trips to the mall, Christmas cookies, caroling, TV specials, and on and on the Christmas list of "things I've got to do" goes. But what is missing in all of this is Jesus. How many times have we come to the end of the Christmas season and said, "Next year is going to be different. Next year I'm not going to focus so much attention on stuff and getting stuffed, but I'm going to really, really celebrate Christmas as a time of focusing on the birth of Jesus"? Well, this is the reminder to make this year the year that we do exactly that! Before we get caught up in the nonsense of commercial Christmas let's get caught up in the real sense of a biblical Christmas. How do we do that? Glad you asked...here's what I'm thinking - First, get a Scriptural focus. We begin where the story begins - in the Bible. Everyday make it a habit of getting into the Bible and rediscovering the authentic Christmas story. Read the prophets in the Old Testament to get their perspective on the Messiah promised from God to Israel who would deliver them not from the oppression of a government but from the oppression of their own sin. Meditate on passages such as Isaiah 7 and 9, Micah 5:2, Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53.
Next, let the joy of the birth of Jesus capture your attention. Imagine yourself a shepherd on the night the angel announced the good news of great joy. Allow your voice to sing praise to the majesty and glory of God for the gift of His presence in the person of His Son. Let your mind dwell on Luke 2.
But don't leave Jesus as a baby. It is essential that we get caught up in the whole storyline of the Savior. Our redemption wasn't accomplished in a feed trough in Bethlehem; it was done on a cross outside the city of Jerusalem. Read the gospel accounts of Jesus' life, death and resurrection. Remember, and store in your heart, that He did this to reveal the Father to us.
Don't raise our generation of kids thinking that Christmas is about them and what "stuff" they get. Raise them to know the meaning of Christmas is the gospel of redemption for the glory of God!
Grace & Peace,
Scott
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