In this Christmas season I wanted to make sure and do a post on this most important Holiday. I have always enjoyed Christmas. I like the feel of the season and how everyone seems to be in a better mood, unless they’re shopping on black Friday of course. And it’s always nice to get the family together.
Of course the whole reason for all this celebration is based on a story that happened 2000 years ago. We realize this many times gets lost in all the commercialism and distractions we have in our society today. So, what about this story that happened long ago? The Bible tells us all about. In our family, my Dad would read the story out of the book of Luke every year. It was tradition. The story tells of Caesar Augustus declaring a tax over the land. So, Joseph left with his wife Mary to go to Bethlehem to be taxed. The shepherds were told in the field of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem. So, they departed and found Mary and Joseph with the baby Jesus in a manger. The book of Matthew also tells of the wise men visiting.
This a compelling story. We read this every year. The unfortunate thing is that this story not only seems to get overshadowed by our modern day interpretation of what Christmas is, it also can have a tendency to be taken for granted in the repeated telling of it. I think the concern is that we may hear it so often that it doesn’t impact us the way it used to.
So, how do we combat the tendency to take this story too lightly? One thing I find helpful is to just purposely look at it with a fresh set of eyes. Read the story, but approach it like it’s the first time you’ve ever read it. Think to yourself, “If I had never heard of this story and I were reading it for the first time, what would I be thinking about it? Or, how would it make me feel?” I think this can sometimes be helpful in gaining a new appreciation for something. The reason being is, often when we take something for granted, we are borrowing from those past thoughts and feelings about something and transporting them to the current day. So, maybe we need to renew our thoughts and feelings about this story.
This is something we can do every year when we hear the Christmas story. Approach it like it’s the first time you’ve heard it. What a difference that can make. Maybe we can gain a new appreciation for what it means. Maybe this can help bring the story alive to us, if we realize that this is the most impactful story in history. If we acknowledge with our hearts that these events really took place. It’s possible for us to think we believe without actually believing. We might have a head knowledge but not a heart knowledge. So, “Is the Christmas story alive in our hearts?” This is the question.
In 2 Peter it’s emphasized to us the importance of not just seeing this as a story. It’s not just some fairy tale. 2 Peter 1:16 says, “For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.” I think it’s important that the apostle Peter wrote this. It’s especially important for us to remember today. These weren’t just some stories that somebody make up. Peter tells that they made known to them the power of Jesus and his coming. Not only that, but they were eyewitness to Him and His works and Glory.
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We need to remember too, that this story was just the beginning of what Jesus came to do. Yes, He was the prophesied Messiah, but He came to do more than just be born. He came to save humanity from their sins which ultimately culminated in His death on the Cross. In 1 Corinthians, in verses prior to following verse, Paul describes the futility of our belief if Christ’s death was not real. 1 Corinthians 15:19 says, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.” Paul was declaring here the reality of these events. That because they are real we do have a hope in a life hereafter.
The important thing is that we’re not just believing with our head, but believing with our hearts. Romans 10:9 says, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” This is the basis of our salvation—a belief in our hearts. And we have more than a passive faith, we have an active faith. The reason we petition God in prayer, through Jesus, is because we have an active faith. The reason we confess with our mouth is because we have an active faith. The reason we rest in the knowledge of his care and protection is because we have an active faith.
This is the impact of this story. This is the story that changed the world. The most important story in history. But it all began in a manger. And as powerful as this event was, it was just the beginning.
2 Peter 1:16 says, “For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.”
1 Corinthians 15:19 says, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.”
Romans 10:9 says, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”