What Christmas is really Really REALLY About

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This is not just another rambling whiny post about how Christmas is about Christ's birth and not about Santa and presents.  There's enough of those going around to make you feel sicker than if you'd eaten a whole plateful of gingerbread cookies by yourself.  However, this is a post about the importance of Christmas.

When people tell you about the importance of Christmas, they'll most likely tell you the who, what, how, and where.  Who?  Baby Jesus.  What?  Born.  How?  Of a virgin.  Where?  Bethlehem.  When?  Christmas Day! (He was born before that, but that's another matter...)  These are true, yes, but I think the real importance of Christmas lies in the why.  You can have the who, what, where, when, and how; but they're all completely pointless (except maybe the 'who') if you don't know why.

Why was Christ born of a virgin in Bethlehem on Christmas day?  Why did God send His son to earth?  "To save sinners!" you'll probably say.  I'll surprise you by saying "Nope!"  Saving sinners was what Christ was born to do.  Why Christ came to save sinners is what I want to talk about.   

Why did Almighty God humble Himself and take on the form of one of His creations, to be born in such a  humble place as a manger, into a humble family such as Joseph's, in such a Humble town as Bethlehem, in such a humble nation as the tiny Roman-occupied Israel, on such a humble planet as our little earth, in such a humble system as Sol, and in such a humble, primitive time?  Why did he suffer among us for over thirty long years?  Why did He cast out demons, heal the sick, cause the lame to walk, the blind to see, the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak?  Why did He allow Himself to be mocked, reviled, spat upon, beaten, scourged, and crucified for the sins of mankind?  Why?

I'll tell you why: Because of His love for us.

Psalm 103:8 says "The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love."

John 3:16 says "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."

John 4:10 says "In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins."

John 4:16 says "So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him."

John 15:13 says "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends."

Romans 5:8 says "but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

Ephesians 3:17-19 says "so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."

So I ask again: Why did God do what He did?  The answer, according to the verses above, is because of His love.

Is Christmas the day that we celebrate Christ's birth?  Yes.  But is Christmas 'all about' Christ's birth?  No.  Christmas is about God's amazing love, and how He showed it by coming down to dwell among (and eventually die for) us.

This Christmas, I hope you take time to remember God's amazing love that He has for us.  I also hope that you take some time to share that love with others (preferably in a way that does not involve mistletoe).

Merry Christmas,
 --Jonny.

Read part 2 on sharing Christ's love.