Are you getting ready? What is still left to do on your list to prepare for Christmas? Is it just me, or does December seem to be incredibly busy? As soon as Thanksgiving is over, we are launched full throttle into the Christmas season. There is shopping to do and presents to buy. There are parties and celebrations, Christmas cards to get out, baking to get done, and more.
I want to ask my question again though. Are you really ready for Christmas? I am not really thinking about the presents, cooking, etc. I am talking about your heart. One famous Christmas carol goes like this: “Joy to the world, the Lord has come. Let earth receive her king. Let every heart prepare him room…” This carol encourages us to make room in our hearts for Jesus the king. During the month of December, many churches celebrate what is known as Advent. Advent means “coming” or “arrival. This season right before Christmas is meant to be a time of preparation for the coming of Jesus Christ. It seems, however, that we spend a lot of time preparing for everything but Jesus. I am a pastor, and even I have a hard time keeping my focus with all of the other distractions of the season.
It seems like Jesus has always had a hard time finding room at Christmas. Remember that very first Christmas when Mary and Joseph came to Bethlehem for the census. Scripture records, “While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn and wrapped him in a manger, because there was no room for him in the inn” (Luke 2:6,7). On the very first Christmas, nobody had room for Jesus. Everybody was busy, distracted and blind to what God was doing in Bethlehem. God was coming to earth in the form of a human, but so many were unprepared to receive him.
Over recent years, some politically correct groups have tried to totally drop Jesus out of Christmas. Some stores have instructed their employees to say, “Seasons Greeting” or “Happy Holidays” instead of Merry Christmas. There is a fight in some cities to put a nativity scene on any piece of public property. For most of us, however, it will not be the atheists and politically correct that strip Christ from our Christmas celebrations.
Our problem will often be the busyness of the season. I love Santa Claus, presents, parties, watching Christmas specials and all the other trappings that go with the holidays. You would think it would be easy to remember that all of this is nothing more than the sideshow, and that Jesus is the main attraction. And yet is seems that the birth of Jesus has become the sideshow, and all of the rest has become the main attraction. What if our kids walked away from Christmas with a message bigger than “be good for goodness sake” because Santa is checking his list twice? I want my kids to remember each Christmas to fall in love with a God who would send His own Son into the world to give his life. I want them to learn to be like the wise men and seek after Jesus with all of their heart. I want to remember these things for myself as well.
So here it is – Christmas season once again. It has been a hard year for many folks. The new year holds a lot of unknowns. Many of us need encouragement and hope. Go over to your Nativity scene and remember exactly what Christmas is all about. God drew near to us, to you. He is Emmanuel – God with us. Remember that no gift under the tree will ever compare to the gift of Christ. Take time to get ready. Make room in your heart for Him. If you miss Jesus, then you have really missed Christmas. And that’s the Word.
Up a Tree: Why Christmas – How long does it take you to get ready for Christmas? God started getting ready for Christmas from the very moment that man first rebelled and found himself up a tree. All of the OT points and prepares for the moment of Christ’s arrival. Join us as we begin the process of constructing Christmas, and be reminded that God is never without a plan.
