Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas!
Tomorrow (Dec. 25th) is Christmas day. It is a day that will be filled with presents, food, family, friends and may even include the making of new traditions. It might be your first Christmas or one among many through the years. And, for many of us, it is also a day that we remember our loved ones who are not celebrating with us this year. The frank reality is that there are many feelings and experiences that come up on a day as significant as Christmas. However, the true blessing of this day has nothing to do with ourselves. Instead, it has everything to do with Jesus.
Christmas is the day that we celebrate and remember the incarnation. That is the moment when God’s Son humbled himself and stepped into our world by taking on our form to express the depth of his love for us and ultimately to make a way for us to be restored to our Father in heaven. Yes, Jesus didn’t have to come as a baby; and yes, Jesus could have skipped the cross altogether and made our salvation possible through some other means. But he didn’t. He stepped into our world in the most intimate way possible and established loving presence with humanity. And, that loving presence is available to all! This is the real beauty of Christmas.
So, as you gather and celebrate Christmas traditions, take time to enjoy the loving presence of our Savior. He drew near to us in the most real way possible through the incarnation because we were and are unable to draw near to our Father on our own. What a beautiful and gracious truth!
A prayer for presence with Jesus on Christmas:
Lord Jesus, thank you for your abiding and generous presence that was established at your birth. Holy Spirit, would you help me to be present today to the love, grace, and joy afforded to me through Jesus? Jesus, let my heart see more of you today and not the clutter of cultural celebration. Allow me to be present to you today, just as you are present to me. – Amen.