Christmas with Christ

 

“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.”

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.

We hear the challenge every year: “Let’s 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.”

Mary and the shepherds worshiped the Christ child.  Mary, worshiped in her heart, 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 Mary or Joseph sending any announcements, 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 2:18). 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 telling others what we have learned about Jesus as those shepherds did?

For many women, Christmas brings so much “busy-ness” that it 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 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 to save us from our sins? “Immanuel, God with us;” what would change if we lived like we believe all that Mary pondered and the shepherds shared with others?