Halloween is over, Thanksgiving is approaching, and Christmas is just around the corner. Whenever the first week of November arrives every year, yuletide zealots come out in abundance as the changing of months indicates it is time to haul out the holly and fill up the stocking because Christmas season is here. While others decry their propensity to celebrate Christmas this early, these passionate individuals plow forward with their plans to deck the halls in order to maximize their holiday cheer. Even though I am not one of these people, I want to affirm something in this week's post that I am sure will make my Christmas-loving wife extremely happy...
We should celebrate Christmas all year long, not just for the year's last two months.
In America, Christmas has indeed become commercialized with so many companies vying for our business this time of year, and the presents under the tree have, sadly, become the highlight of many Christmas Days. When I make my aforementioned statement, I am not referencing this reason for celebrating Christmas; rather, I am advocating for celebrating the true reason for the season year-round, and we do not need any decorations or special music to do that. I may not want to celebrate a commercialized Christmas all year, but you better believe I want to celebrate Jesus all year, and I hope and pray that is your desire as well.
It has become a cliche, of sorts, in the modern era, but Jesus really is the reason for the season. You may lament the fact that Christmas season in the United States seems to push Him out of the way in favor of everything else associated with this time of year, but at the end of the day, there is no Christmas without Jesus. While it is unlikely Jesus was actually born on December 25 over 2,000 years ago, we should never forget this world-changing reality that Jesus was born so that we may have life. The one and only Son of God humbled Himself, added humanity to His deity, and took on flesh to dwell among us. He was born so that He may die a perfect, sacrificial death on our behalf over thirty years later, and that is wonderful news that should not and must not be contained to two months a year!
I am ecstatic that Christians set aside an entire season to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, but this message of hope that was laid in a Bethlehem manger by two peasant Israelites needs to be preached from January to December and beyond, for without the miraculous birth of Jesus, our world would still be wandering in darkness. A baby named Jesus truly changes everything, and that is something to celebrate each and every day of our lives. The enemy would love nothing more than for Christ's followers to only thank God for sending Jesus a few weeks out of the year, and we must guard against the temptation to relegate the Christmas message only to Christmas season. Just like we should celebrate Christ's death and resurrection year-round, we should likewise celebrate Christ's birth year-round.
The good news of Christmas is that God has not left us hopeless, deep in the muck and mire of our sinfulness. Due to our rebellion against God and His Law, we all find ourselves born eternally separated from Him with no chance of earning our way back to Him in our own strength. We did not deserve the grace and mercy of our Creator; moreover, we deserved to die for our sin. However, because of His great love for us when there was no way for us to get back into communion with Him, God made a way by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to born as a gentle and lowly baby boy. Jesus was born this way in order that He may identify with us as human, but the difference between us and Him is that He lived a perfectly sinless life. He did so in order to be uniquely qualified to pay the price for sin we could not pay.
God's holiness demanded that sin be dealt with accordingly. Romans 6:23 tells us that the wages of sin is death, and since we deserved to die for our sin, Jesus took our place and died the death reserved for us. Yes, Jesus was born to die, and He died so that, through Him, we might live. We celebrate Christmas because we know what happened on Good Friday and Easter. If Jesus was just born, died after living a full life, and then stayed dead forevermore, we would still be hopeless, but during the Christmas season, we rejoice because He was born, He died, and now He lives again! Ultimately, this is the message God has tasked us with proclaiming to the nations: "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons" (Galatians 4:4-5).
Therefore, if the beginning of November signifies for you the start of Christmas season, let your days be merry and bright! In fact, I think you have actually started celebrating too late in the year. And if you are like me and prefer to wait until the Thanksgiving turkey is carved before the tree goes up in the living room, well, let your days be merry and bright too because Jesus has come into the world not to condemn the world but that the world, through Him, might be saved. No matter how you celebrate Christmas and when you start doing so, let us always ensure that the message of Christmas penetrates our hearts and lives for twelve months out of every year.
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!
Cody Fleenor
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