What Does Christmas Mean to You?
Christmas. It’s a time that means many things to many different people. It may be a time of pointed gratitude or a reminder of loss and sorrow. It could be the one time of the year you can’t want to come around again, or it may be the season you hope would skip on by. What does it mean to you?
For the believer, this is a season of existential joy. However, distraction and forgetfulness can tend to cause Christmas to lose the fullness of its meaning. I’m going to do my best to stray away from the cliché “reason for the season,” although there will be a bit of that in the following paragraphs.
There’s something beautiful about the rhythms that God created. There are beginnings and endings everywhere. The day starts with a sunrise and ends with a sunset. Weeks begin with Mondays and closing with Sundays. We have seasons with their unique attributes. And all those days, weeks, and months culminate in a year – where we too get a beginning and end.
One of the clearest charges of the Bible is that of remembrance. It’s all too easy for us to get caught up in the constant endings and beginnings of life. Routine and monotony have a way of lulling us to sleep if we’re not careful.
The calendar provides us with built in reminders that points us back to beginnings. Countries have their own Independence Days, there are inception dates and holidays that commemorate moments that changed history. For the Christian, ours is Easter and Christmas.
Christmas is a time where we celebrate the beginning of God stepping on stage as Redeemer. This story arc can be traced all the way back to the Garden of Eden in Genesis, but Christmas is when we celebrate the birth of a baby. And this baby just so happened to be God Himself.
It’s worth noting how Jesus introduced Himself. Not as a king or a prince might, no, He was born in a manger, outside, in the cold, because there was no room for Him in the Inn. He would grow up over the next 33 years and describe Himself this way, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).
He’s the One described at the beginning of John’s Gospel, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning (John 1:1-2). And ultimately, He is the One who died a gruesome death on a cross and three days later was raised from the dead. It’s through Him and Him alone that we have eternal life. “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).
What is Christmas? Christmas is a day we celebrate the birth of our Savior. He who was fully God and fully man. He came not to be served but to serve. He laid down His life for us even while we were still sinners. And it’s through our faith in Him that we have the free gift of eternal life.
Christmas means a lot of things to a lot of people. It’s filled with excitement and a plethora of distraction. Friend, even if just for a few moments, allow yourself the permission to take a breath, slow down, remember this season is not about gifts or family or pressure. Although those things are a part of our experience now. No, this season is about remembering a beginning. It’s to celebrate the start of the most important life that’s ever walked the earth. Remember Christmas for what it is, it’s here to honor, celebrate, and remember the birth of our Savior – King Jesus.
