For some people, the days preceding Christmas can be very stressful. Finding the “perfect” gift means maneuvering through holiday traffic and crowded malls. Family get-togethers are preceded by hours of housecleaning and cooking.
Christmas Day itself can be depressing. Feelings of loneliness or abandonment are often intensified, particularly for those in nursing homes and hospitals. Those far from home long for the companionship of family and friends.
Even the days following Christmas can be a letdown. The novelty of gifts received quickly wears off. Paying down credit card debt for gifts given becomes a burden. The routine of work replaces the relaxation of days off.
I’m guessing most people have a problem with Christmas because they are looking forward to it. The advertising hype begins well before Thanksgiving and intensifies each day for the following weeks. A reminder of how many shopping days remain is announced regularly. Television constantly promotes the schedule of upcoming Christmas specials and sports events. It is no wonder that Christmas can be a disappointment for those who see it only as a special holiday. No twenty-four-hour period could live up the expectations created by today’s marketing experts.
As Christians, we are able to find joy in Christmas because we look back rather than forward. Over two thousand years ago, God gave us the “perfect” gift of His Son, beautifully wrapped and lying in a manger. That birth was the fulfillment of a promise made thousands of years earlier. God first promised Adam and Eve that their offspring would defeat the Devil and conquer sin. The promise of a Messiah was repeated to the generations that followed through prophets such as Isaiah. Today we can look back to see how all of these events culminated in the fulfillment of that promise. By the grace of God, through the death and resurrection of His Son born on the first Christmas, our sins are forgiven.
The beauty of a Christian Christmas is that we are reminded daily of God’s love for us in Christ. We do not have to wait for a special day of the year to celebrate. And when stress, depression, loneliness or disappointment enter our lives, we have the assurance that these things are only temporary. The joy we experience over being redeemed from sin and death will last forever.
As we look back and celebrate the birth of our Savior, we are filled with a sense of peace and contentment. God has already accomplished everything we need to be saved. We joyfully and thankfully worship the God who “loved the world so much that He gave His only begotten Son.” Because there was a Christmas, we can look forward to a life of service to our Lord here on earth and an eternity with Him in heaven.