What Christmas Means to Me

From a child, I always loved Christmas.  My earliest memories of Christmas were the expectation of what I was going to GET.  That is normal and it WAS fun!

As I grew older I enjoyed GIVING as well as RECEIVING.  It was fun shopping for others, or in some cases, making things for others.  I loved Christmas Day and all the joy and laughter it brought to our home.  I don’t remember a “bad” Christmas…ever!

I knew that Christmas was supposed to be the celebration of the birth of Christ Jesus, but I never really got it.  We were not church-goers, therefore I never really understood the impact of the birth of Jesus.  His birth meant nothing to me, so I thought.

It wasn’t until my late teens, after a personal encounter with the Savior, that I really understood what Christmas really meant to the world.

Today I want to share what that birth REALLY means to you and me.  The song says, “Joy to the world, the Lord has come.”  It really is a joy to the world that Jesus came.  Why did He come?  Why did God send His only Son? 

God made man in His image and after His likeness in order to have a relationship with man.  God longs to be part of His human creation.  He wants to experience humanity and He wants us to experience divinity.  He longs for a RELATIONSHIP with you and me.

God started a wonderful relationship with Adam and Eve, the father and mother of us all.  However that relationship was marred by sin and God could no longer walk with man in such a warm, intimate, and cherishing way.  He is righteous and can’t fellowship with unrighteousness.  Believe me, God was saddened by the separation that followed that terrible moment in the garden over 6,000 year ago.

How could God RESTORE His RELATIONSHIP with mankind?  That is where Jesus came in.  Just as through one man sin entered into the world, so through One Man the barrier of sin was taken away, thus enabling God to restore His relationship with humankind.  Jesus bore the sins of mankind, all of mankind, on the tree.  He took our place to restore our relationship with God.

Here is the clincher:  God will not force anyone into a relationship with Him.  He gave every one of us a choice.  We can choose to know Him or not.  The only requirement that He has is that we must approach Him through the gift of His Son.  We must acknowledge His gift of reconciliation in order to have this restored relationship.  All the hard work is done.  All we have to do is RECEIVE the gift of His Son’s sacrifice by believing.  It’s that simple.

Why did God make reconciliation so simple (At least for us.  It was not simple for Him)?  He made it simple because He loves us and wants to be with us.  He wants to provide for us.  He wants to share His riches and glory with us.  He wants to provide abundantly for us.  He wants to get involved with your marriage, work, finances, children, recreation, and ALL aspects of your life.  He wants to hear about our worries and take care of them.  He wants to heal our sickness.  He wants to bless you financially. He wants to live the human life through you.  That is His joy and will be yours too—if you believe.

To me, Christmas is a relationship time, a time of family and friends, and above all, it’s a time to rejoice in our restored relationship and fellowship with God.  I hope you will receive this gift of Good News as my Christmas gift to YOU.  Come to Jesus and enjoy a relationship with the living God.  God bless you all!