We made it to December! It’s that time of the year again. The temperatures drop, shops are lit up, gifts are out and you can hear the sound of carols nearby, cue music: Joy to the World… It’s Christmas! The season everyone is pumped up about and looking forward to. Whether it’s the holiday spirit, the lights, gifts, the food (yum!), or anything else you’re thinking of, there is something for everyone.
The funny thing about Christmas
Imagine this scene with me. It’s your birthday and you plan to host this fancy party. You have been planning this for several months. The invitations have been sent out, your parents agreed that they’ll take care of the food so you can worry about making this party lit. You’re excited, get everything prepared. It’s a big day! Everyone comes in, greets you, it’s going great! It’s the party you pictured in your mind, but there is something odd you notice. All the guests who came in, are giving each other gifts when it was meant to be given to you. Are you getting it? I’m using this as an illustration to paint a bigger picture of what usually happens during this season of Christmas. If you were to Google the meaning of Christmas, it literally says the celebration of Jesus’ Birth. In reality, however, everyone seems to be doing everything other than celebrating Jesus. I think our culture, in general, has strayed away from the true picture. So, what’s Christmas all about then? Before that, lets picture another scene.
The theatre of your life…
Imagine yourself seated in a movie theater. The movie your about to see is the story of your life, every second, every thought, literally everything. Now I’m not sure about you, but I’m already uncomfortable. To top this, all the people from your life in the movie are called in to sit with you in this theater. By now, I would’ve ran away! You see, that is a picture of what Sin is and what it can do. Imagine everyone you know looking at your life. How embarrassing it would be! Gives you a picture of how imperfect we all are. Further, why do we see so much hate, murder, lies, wars, deception and the list goes on and on… You get the idea. It’s because of this root cause in us- Sin. All of us have got it. Mankind has tried its best over the centuries to alleviate this root cause. We have got countless NGOs, hospitals, people trying everything they can do to help. It is like putting a band-aid over a bleeding injury. Yet, it’s not enough. The root cause still remains. We are helpless within ourselves.
Our Greatest Need…
If our greatest need was information, God would’ve sent us an educator. If our greatest need was money, God would’ve sent us an economist. If our greatest need was pleasure, God would’ve sent us an entertainer. But, our greatest need is and will always be FORGIVENESS… Forgiveness from our Sin. That’s why God sent us a SAVIOR on Christmas Day! His name JESUS!
God sent us a child to save us from the root cause we are all in. This child would be the answer from Heaven for us to get back to God. Upon him was the mandate to take the suffering of mankind and restore us back to God.
Here’s comes the Good News. Ever since the beginning, God loved us. In fact, He created us in His image (see Genesis 1:26) which is why we are the object of His obsession. While we were left in this mess, God had a plan. He loved us so much He couldn’t leave us with Sin. In order to really understand the significance of Jesus’ life, we need to move past His birth and look to His death. Because Jesus also did die. He died on a Cross for you, me and everyone on this Earth. Only a sinless man could do that, that man was Jesus. That’s the true message of Christmas in a nutshell. It’s the perfect gift given to mankind. And just like any other gift, what’s our response to this gift sent by God? We can just go on with our lives and leave this message aside. But I pray this Christmas our hearts would truly embrace this message.
Merry Christmas!
As I conclude, I want to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas. To all my family and friends. As we close yet another year, I want to thank God for everything He has done in my life. To enable me to start this blog page. As I write, it’s expanding my mind and heart as well. Thank you for joining me on this journey!
Until next time, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
– Sam D. Mathews
Very well decoded the message of Christmas!
Merry Christmas 🙂
Wonderful
Excellent explanation of the TRUTH. Yes, it’s the time we must give all we can to Him, Praise, Worship, Skills, Talents, Time, Money, Life and so on. Thank you Sam for sharing your thoughts. Thousand times blessings in Jesus name. May the grace of God help us to spread the TRUE Christmas message in 2023 more than before.