Christ in Christmas

“If the Salvation Army hadn’t taken them those gifts they wouldn’t have had Christmas.” “When I have all my decorations up, then, it’s Christmas.”

We hear statements like these for the several weeks leading up to Christmas every year. What do they say we think Christmas is? If the Salvation Army brings Christmas then Christmas is the gifts. If our decorations declare Christmas then, are they what we celebrate? Even people who don’t acknowledge Christ as Savior would deny that these are what they celebrate, yet the way we live and what we say gives others a clear indication of what’s important.

I have been feeling a real challenge this year to “put Christ back in Christmas.” Christians tell others they need to and we complain about how the world has forgotten “the reason for the season.” As believers, what example are we setting?

In Luke 2 he gives us his account of the birth of Christ. In it he tells us the Shepherds went to Jesus as a newborn wanting to see this thing the Lord had made known to them. (Luke 2:15) After they had found Joseph and Mary and the baby lying in a manger they left them and went out to tell others what they had learned. (Luke 2:16 -17).

Mary, the mother of Jesus, is watching and wondering about these things. Verse 19 says that she “pondered these things in her heart.” The very next verse goes back to the Shepherds and says that they returned “glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen.”

I look at these as ways that both the shepherds and Mary worshipped at the birth of Christ. Mary, all to herself, in one place, pondering the things that God was doing by sending His Son. She had been told, through Joseph, that they were to name their son “Jesus, because He would save his people from their sin” and He would be “Immanuel, God with us.” She had been refused a room in the Inn, having to give birth in a stable. Then, without her or Joseph sending out a news flash to the general public, shepherds came to see the “good news of great joy” they heard about from the Angel of the Lord.

The shepherds believed the Angel and they went looking for the Child. They told many others who “wondered at what the shepherds told them.” (Luke 2:19). They went home praising and glorifying God!

As Christians, do others see us praising and glorifying God in our Christmas preparations and celebrations? Are we displaying the fruits of the Spirit to any and all we meet? Are we willing to use His name as we speak of the work He has done in our own lives? In other words, are we telling others what we have learned about Jesus as those shepherds did?

For many women, it seems like this is the worst time of the year to ponder anything. It may be the thing we need the most but we rarely take the time because it seems like there are too many other things to get done. Pondering these things in our hearts would be refreshing for us if we would willingly take the time to do it. What time are we setting aside to ponder the work of God in sending His Son and of His Son in the compassion He showed and the promises He made to those who would believe Him?

As I read through this Luke passage and the account of Christ’s birth in Matthew 1:18 – 2:3 it is apparent to me that the way to put Christ back into Christmas is the same way we would put Christ back in our lives in general, 12 months a year. We need to be willing to take time with Him, to ponder what He has said and done in our own lives. We need to tell others what He has made known to us, and we need to take the time to praise and glorify Him, corporately and individually.

My goal is to make no excuses, I will make every effort to be in church on Sunday and Christmas Eve. Christ is not who we are worshipping if we stay home to make the perfect meal or wrap the perfect gifts. I will try to speak of Him whenever I have opportunity, and I will set aside time to ponder the birth, life, and death of Jesus. Only with the help of the Holy Spirit will I make no excuses to avoid it.   

I am praying that, in our house this year, Christmas will have more of Christ than anything else.