The Meaning of Christmas

Submitted by David Miller
…for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Luke 2:11(NASB)


With the most popular holiday just around the corner, it seems like everyone is trying to get into the Christmas spirit. Stores are lining their aisles with Christmas goodies and decor, TV shows have switched to the theme of giving and love (just tune into the Hallmark channel), and Santas are starting to float about. And why shouldn't they, after all it is that time, the Christmas season, right? Yet, the very first Christmas seemed to do without all of these. The very first Christmas somehow started a frenzy without the power of TV, without candy canes, without Santa, Hallmark, and without Christmas sales. Even more amazingly, the very first Christmas involved a poor couple, who were seemingly nobodies, who would lay the most precious child of all in a manger.

Looking back on Black Friday, I am constantly reminded how far we have come from the true meaning of Christmas. Christmas wasn't just about giving, or feeling loved, but it was about true love. Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Christ, the Savior who came into this world to die... for everyone, even those who killed him. Jesus was God's gift not to the deserving, but the undeserving, us, everyone.

Yet this time of year, everyone rushes around to get the best deal, the best door-buster, the most popular toy or computer gadget. People fight over toys as they are being grabbed off the shelf. People who seem to have forgot that love isn't hurting another to give your child what they want, but rather to do what is right and moral. And they seem to have forgotten that Christmas isn't just about showing love for those you care for, but for those who are undeserving, and those you do not even know. Just as Christ came to die, for those who were undeserving, and yes, for those who choose to commercialize Christmas and make it more about keeping up with the Jones’s rather than about a baby born to a virgin, in a manger, for our redemption. The gift God gave on that first Christmas morning was not wrapped up in fancy paper and ribbons but rather in swaddling clothes surrounded by hay.

Today, let us remember the true meaning of Christmas... Peace on Earth, Good will toward Men, for the Savior has come to show us how to love, and to give us the greatest gift of love. Instead of buying fancy toys, think of how you can give to those who would normally go without. Ask yourself how you can help out others who are not as fortunate as you. Show them the true meaning of Christmas, the gift of God's love, and love others as God first loved you.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. - Luke 2:13-14