What’s So Special About Christmas?

As the often-busy Christmas season approaches, now is the perfect time to pause and remind ourselves what is so special about Christmas! Let’s begin today with the relevance, reason, and result of God’s gift for us this Christmas.

 The relevance of Christmas is simple and yet profound – God came to Earth. Philippians 2:7 explains, “He became like men and was born a human being…” Jesus, fully God and fully human joined humanity on Earth with an incredible mission goal – to reconcile us to God. Colossians 1:15-16 describes the relevance of Christmas and God’s indescribable gift like this, “Jesus Christ is the exact likeness of the unseen God. He existed before God made anything at all, and in fact, Christ Himself is the Creator who made everything...”    

The reason of Christmas is equally great – Jesus came for our benefit. John tells us in 1 John 3:5, “He became a man so that He could take away our sins...” It wasn’t an easy task as Paul explains in Philippians 2:6-8, “Though He was God... He laid aside His mighty power and glory, taking the disguise of a slave and becoming like men. humbled Himself even further, going so far as actually to die a criminal’s death on a cross.” The reason why makes it even more significant. John reveals the why in 1 John 4:9-10, “God showed how much He loved us by sending His only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through Him.  This is real love...that God sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.”

 Most important though is the result of His actions – We can know God! Paul divulges the reason God’s gift to us at Christmas is so special in Romans 5:10-11, “We were restored to friendship with God by the death of His Son while we were still His enemies, and we will be delivered from eternal punishment by His life.  So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God – all because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us...”

 In the busyness of this Christmas season, may we all seek Him and His incredible Gift – the One and Only reason Christmas is so special! 

“So, the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son” (John 1:14).