This article concerns the same topic as my most recent YouTube video, which you can check out here:
https://youtu.be/pwwwyDOVKSE
I absolutely love Christmas. I love the festive mood. I love the get togethers. I love the food, too much. Although I am blind, I even love all the decorations. I love Christmas movies. I love trying to figure out what to get people. I just love it all.
For many people, Christmas is a wonderful time of year. However, for many people, Christmas is a stressful or even sad time of year. There are many different reasons why this may be the case but one of those reasons is that we’re focused too much on the things I just mentioned, the decorations, the parties, the gifts, especially the gifts. These things are fine and I do really enjoy all of these things but these things are not what Christmas is all about.
At this point, you may be starting to unconsciously tune out on me but please don’t do that. You’re probably thinking “I know it isn’t about the parties and gifts, it’s about Jesus”. You’re probably also thinking that you’ve heard this before and you’re right, you have heard it before and so have I, many times. For many of us though, it goes from our ears to our brain and just stops there. It doesn’t seem to make it from our brain down to our heart. I’ve been there.
Take me for example. This ministry is what my wife and I do, full time. While it is what we are called to do and it is very rewarding, it doesn’t pay all that well. We basically make what the ministry can afford to pay us at any a given time and sometimes that isn’t much. Things are getting better but, still, we can’t spend all that much, by many people’s standards, on our kids Christmas. That used to bother me, a lot. Think about this. I’m a preacher. I know that Jesus is the reason for the season and I would certainly have said that if asked. Back when this still used to bother me, I knew that in my head but if that knowledge had made it down to my heart, then it wouldn’t have bothered me that we couldn’t spend all that much on our kids Christmas. All the head knowledge in the world doesn’t make any difference at all if it doesn’t make it to your heart. My mouth said one thing but my attitude said another thing entirely. Do you ever have that problem?
What do we tell our kids about Christmas or, at least, what should we tell them?
“Now remember, it’s not all about the gifts. It’s about Jesus.”
It sounds good to tell them that and that is very true but right after we get done saying that, what do we do? We’re either buying a bunch of stuff to put under the tree or stressing because we can’t buy enough stuff or both. Often, in the midst of all this, we never stop to talk to our kids about Jesus. This certainly isn’t true of everyone but, for many of us, our focus is too much on the gifts.
We are contradicting ourselves. We are saying it’s not about the stuff while steadily buying the stuff and getting all stressed out if we don’t feel like we can get enough stuff. We are saying one thing and demonstrating another. Which of those messages are our kids going to pay attention to, what we are saying or what we are doing? Which one are our lost friends going to pay attention to? Which one are our own hearts going to pay attention to? I asked that last one about our heart because, you know, attitudes can result in actions but actions can also result in attitudes.
I am not advocating not giving Christmas gifts, although I’m not entirely sure that would be a bad thing. In the midst of buying and giving and receiving all the gifts, it is very hard to keep our focus from drifting to the gifts, often without even really realizing it. I think that the gifts and all the other secular things that go with Christmas are OK, as long as those things aren’t your main focus, so I’m not saying that those things are inherently bad.
What I am saying is that we should place much less emphasis on the gifts and more emphasis on Christ. The way that we do that is not just by saying that it isn’t about the gifts. The way that we do that is by perhaps purchasing fewer and less expensive gifts and certainly by focusing more on Christ. Otherwise, we are saying one thing but doing another and it is usually what we do that sends the much more powerful message, the message that is actually received by others and, for that matter, by ourselves.
Jesus said “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” (John 15:13). He said that and then He went, voluntarily, to the cross. His actions coincided with His words. Let’s follow His example.
I encourage you. This Christmas season, talk to your kids about the Christmas story. Tell them of the love that Jesus expressed, not just through His words but through His actions. Personally, I think that Christmas is a good time to talk not just about the birth of Christ but also about the cross, as that is where His love was really demonstrated. If you have never experienced that love for yourself, then come to Him and receive the greatest Christmas gift, really the only true Christmas gift. If you have already received the most precious of all gifts, use this Christmas season as an opportunity to talk to your children about that gift and how they too can receive it. Focus not on lists of wanted things but on lists of blessings already received. Let the main emphasis be on the greatest blessing, the love of Christ. Let this Christmas be more like a Thanksgiving that lasts for a month and then on to next year.
Have a very merry Christmas. Enjoy the decorations and the food and the gifts but please do remember to keep your focus on Jesus. If you do that, you will have not just a marry Christmas, but a blessed one as well. If you can’t give or don’t receive many gifts, don’t worry about it. Jesus already bought and payed for the only gift that really matters in the eternal scheme of things. I hope that you have received that gift and, if you have not, I pray that you will this Christmas season. May the peace that only Christ can give be with you this Christmas.
