Weeks before the Christmas day of 2009, I made a promise to myself that I would write something about Christmas but sadly I failed to fulfill my promise. And now, after the Christmas celebration and as a New Year unfolds I would like to carry out the promise that I made to myself. So here it goes…
Christmas is a season widely celebrated across the globe, primarily Christian countries. It is the season where we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Traditionally, people celebrate this season through parties and gift giving. I could also consider it as the busiest and most meaningful holiday of the year. However, more often than not when this season approaches people tend to worry and think of the things that they would do or how they would spend the holiday with their friends and loved ones. In which it causes us to overlook the true essence and meaning of this festivity. As a Christian, I grew up celebrating the Christmas day that is December 25, with food, gifts and fellowship with loved ones. But one thing I noticed during this celebration is that the reason for the festivity or the celebrant Himself is rarely being talked about or discussed. I am not sure though if we really understand why and what we are celebrating or do we just do it out of tradition. I hope during the Christmas that has passed we were able to silence ourselves and think about the Reason for the Season.
Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords came to earth approximately 2,000 years ago. When He came there was no festivity, in fact He was born in a manger. Jesus humbly came down to earth to live with us and taught us how to live life as how it should be lived. He was the great Lamb and the One and Only Son of God. He was mocked, spitted on, insulted, doubted and falsely accused by men. On top of that He also experienced temptation by Satan when He fasted for 40 days and nights in the desert. But amidst all these, He was able to live a righteous and holy life. Jesus was able to go through all of these things because of His love for you and me. His eyes were fixed on His goal of saving us from sin in which the punishment is death. Through His death on the cross He was able to pay for the punishment that we deserved. He was the ONLY ONE who could possibly save us primarily because He is the only man who has never sinned. Furthermore, Jesus did not only die for us but He also conquered death for us to have life, He rose from the grave on the 3rd day. What a great thing He has done for us!
But all of these things are of no value for those who have not received and believed in Jesus as their Lord and Personal Savior because without Jesus in your life, you won’t be able to receive FREELY the GIFT OF ETERNAL LIFE, a life eternity with God in Heaven. You won’t be able to have all of these perks that we Christians have. So how can you have this gift? All you have to do is to pray and confess that you are a sinner, ask for forgiveness of the sins that you have committed and acknowledge that you need a savior which is Jesus Christ to save you from the punishment that your sins deserve and accept and believe in Jesus as your Lord and Personal Savior and give Jesus the full control of your life. After which repent from all of your sins, ask God to help you in doing so. I guarantee you that after you have said this prayer sincerely, you would have a great feeling of freedom from sins and life would be more meaningful.
For me, this is the Reason for the Season, the birth of our Savior, the birth of the hope of our salvation. Without Jesus’ birth, life would be meaningless; life would be hell if we don’t have this hope. We can all have this hope if we choose to have it.
May we truly see the meaning and value of Christmas and choose to have hope.
