With the ending of fall and Thanksgiving over, stores are ramped up for Christmas. Decorations, gifts, Christmas trees, and lights are all on display at the malls, supermarkets, and even online. The world that we live in, especially in the United States, knows about Christmas. Christmas is a favorite time of year for many. Marketers and advertisers know this and make sure to make a profit from it. But the fact remains that the majority of Americans are not really celebrating Christmas for the true reason that it even exists. Going even further, many Christians alike don’t celebrate Christmas for the right reasons either. Why is this?
The truth is that in such an advanced nation as ours, most Americans have strayed from the true understanding of Christmas by forgetting its historical context and embracing the modern notion of Christmas: a Christmas created by marketing companies.
I remember a time in my prior job when I decided to give a gift to one of the toughest boys on my caseload. He was a foster youth that would see me coming and jump on his bike to get away from me or cuss me out when I showed up to meet with him. This young man had been through a lot. His mother was doing her best to raise him but had to work all night and parts of the morning just to make ends meet. She was so tired and wore out; she did not have the energy to make sure he did his homework or went to school. The absence of his father was also a huge point of resentment and anger in him. Well, when I invited him to a holiday party at my office and gave him a gift on the way home, I would learn a valuable lesson.
He looked at me in shock as I handed him a gift, and asked me, “What’s this for?” I answered, “It’s a Christmas gift.” He put his head down as it was draped in his hoodie. I honestly thought maybe he was going to explode like so many times before; maybe throw the gift out of the window or start berating me with cuss words, but to my surprise, he was wiping his tears. I asked him if he was okay with me giving him a gift (I thought maybe I offended him by giving him a gift). He replied, “Yeah, it’s cool.” So, I proceeded to ask him why he was crying. He told me, “Cuz no one has ever given me a gift.” I couldn’t believe that a 14-year-old boy had never received a Christmas gift. He then further clarified and stated, “No Mr. Jose! I have never got ANY kind of gift in my life. Not even for my birthday. This is the first present I ever got.”
At that moment, I felt extreme emotion as the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, “This is how my gift of Salvation changes people. It is a gift that has never been received and brings people to a place of revelation that they are loved!” And, oh, how many more need this Gift of Jesus! What a great lesson from the Holy Spirit!
Christmas should be about glorifying God for this gift that He bestowed on us when we least expected it. We should have a heartfelt appreciation for the Gift which He gave us through his son Jesus Christ. If only we can remember this gift and how God met us at that specific moment that Christ was given to us, the appreciation we felt for God, and the appreciation that we were given a gift that we did not deserve!
2 Corinthians 9:15 states, “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift.” The Apostle Paul calls it an “indescribable gift.” I believe Paul was describing the gift of God, Jesus Christ, as such an awesome gift that it could not be described.
There are no words to describe the depth of love we felt when we accepted the Gift of Christ. There are no fair descriptors for such a loving gift. None of the words in the human vocabulary can give justice to this Gift of God!
However, the ironic fact is that many Americans cannot truly describe who Jesus Christ even is; to them Jesus Christ is literally indescribable.
Therefore, let’s not forget Rom 6:23 – “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Jesus is the gift from God to all us sinners. Jesus is our gift. Jesus is their gift. Let’s give this gift of Jesus…
Jesus is the Christmas Reason.
Pastor Jose Smith