The Meaning of Christmas
Christmas is a season that for many is a festivity focused on exchanging gifts or going to parties. Sadly, many Americans have taken Christ out of Christmas but for those of us who are believing Christians, it is a very joyous and solemn time to celebrate the birth of Jesus.
Why is Christmas, the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ 2,000 years ago, such a momentous and sacred occasion for Christians? He was born of the humblest circumstances in a manger, likely a cave, in Bethlehem. He was born of a virgin, his mother Mary. Through His exceptional human life, He was devoid of earthly wealth but we believe a life that infinitely and eternally transcended the worldly wealth we too often exclusively focus our lives on, i.e., our many false gods, then and especially now. We accept and follow Christ as God, as both human and divine. We recognize Him as the eternal King transcending in might and power over any king in our earthly history.
For those of us who follow Him, we are offered both temporal and eternal treasure. The temporal wealth He offers us is Himself and the values he demonstrated unceasingly in His earthly life drawing us to love Him. These beautiful values are His unconditional love for us despite our flawed natures, His forgiveness of our sins, His kindness, and the peace we realize living in genuine faith and belief in Him. In turn we in faith are expected to forgive those who ’trespass against us’ with humility, selflessness, patience, and compassion. This is the path to peace and love of others as He demonstrated always in His earthly life. These are all celebrated on the great Christian day of Christmas.
Even more magnificently and enduring, He offers us eternal life with Himself by being in faith with Him. The gospel of John (John 3:16) was unequivocal: ‘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 in him.’ We refer to Jesus Christ as the Son of Man – Jesus Christ is the Son of God (‘Our Father’) and came to earth as a man, thus the Son ‘of Man’. He was the only man (human) ever with the credentials to truly ‘pay’ for our sins. His resurrection on Easter Sunday demonstrated eternal life to all of us believers – it is the basis of our faith and the center of our lives. This is the gift we celebrate on the great feast of Christmas – our Savior’s birth, prophesized repeatedly, accurately, and many, many times throughout the Old Testament.
Jesus came to earth as a man and yet fully God to pay for our sins shedding His precious blood by an unjust and brutally cruel crucifixion where He made the ultimate payment for our sin. He offers us eternal life with one caveat. We each must choose Him as our Savior and live accordingly as best we can. So, what will it be for you? Do you want life, now and beyond our fragile and short mortal existence?
Each of us can decide. America was founded and advanced as a Christian nation from the beginning. In an America that has increasingly turned to darkness over the past century, many of us are saddened, fearful, and gravely concerned for our children and grandchildren as we see the dark clouds of a growing godless socialism and totalitarian state coming to control us. Our Founders gave us the profound freedom to believe without limit in His grace and mercy and live accordingly in peace and fellowship. During the time of Nero, Christians were fed to wild beasts or were covered with pitch and set on fire, and were crucified rather than ‘repent’ of their belief in Jesus Christ. For the Christian, scripture tells us that “God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and of love and a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). This is the eternal gift brought here by God the Father 2,000 years ago and why we, as Christians, see the real meaning of the birth of Christ celebrated on the 25th of each December as the central and most important part of our lives. We usually say “Merry” Christmas, but we believe it is really a ‘Blessed’ Christmas each year as we celebrate the grace and mercy brought to us this magnificent day 2,000 years ago by the birth of Jesus Christ.
