WE ARE THE REASON

A few weeks ago I was having a conversation with one of my church leaders and he led with something similar (I don’t have a photographic memory) to this;

“Have you noticed how all the lights in the houses have Santa, Snoopy, Mickey, Snowmen and reindeer? Nowhere do you find a nativity scene. It seems to me that Christmas is more about us that God. Why do we celebrate it at all?”

It really made me think.

During the Christmas season we hear about gifts, receiving and giving them. Yet have we stopped to think that Christmas is about the greatest gift of them all.

“For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 (NLT)

How do we share this story? How do we get the word out about the meaning of this celebration?

We could use social media. We could decorate our home in nativity scenes. Invite people to our church for their Christmas program. We could do outreach. We could, to put it simply, share Christ, not just with our words but with actions and our lives.

This story could be told one hundred different ways but the reason for this story is only one. The angels made a huge announcement to the shepherds on the hillside of Bethlehem. “A savior is born!”

Can you imagine the excitement?

Today, Christmas could not be announced in any bigger way yet it seems that we still miss the point of it all. There are sales, concerts, events, food and drink in order to celebrate this event but it misses the point.

We forget that Christmas starts with Christ!

Christ came to this world as a baby.

Christ was born in a manger.

Christ’s first visitors were shepherds and animals.

Christ’s earthly father was a carpenter.

Christ’s earthly mother was a teenager.

Christ fulfilled prophecies given thousands of years before his birth, given all the way from Genesis.

Christ left the glory of heaven.

Christ came to suffer.

Christ came to die.

CHRIST CAME FOR YOU!

Yes we celebrate Christ’s birth this season. Yes we are reminded of His gift of life. Yes our focus during this season is Jesus.

But His focus, with His incarnation, with His birth, His constant thoughts were directed to you and me.

We were on His mind as He became man. We were on His mind as He was born. We were on His mind and He lived out the fathers plan for His life.

We are the reason he came to this world.

WE ARE THE REASON.

“For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

John 3:16 (NLT)