Christmas is a season characterised by happiness in the faces of almost everybody. In Africa, most people visit their long-seen family members during Christmas. Because of the happiness Christmas season brings, it’s tempting for many of us to forget the relevance of the season and how we can celebrate it in honour of the Lord Jesus.
What is Christmas?
The word “Christmas” is not in the Bible. However, it comprises two unique words: ‘Christ’ and ‘mass.’ Christ means the Anointed One, and “mass” means celebration. Putting the two together, Christmas means the celebration of Jesus, the anointed One.
The Purpose of Celebrating Christmas
Christmas is all about the birth of Christ. That means, without Christ, there’d be no Christmas. Although there’s nowhere in scripture that tells us to celebrate it, the Magi (wise men), upon hearing the birth of the Messiah, saw the need to honour His name. They were tending their flock at night in another country, the Bible says (Matthew 2:1, Matthew 2:12, Luke 2:8). But they left everything they were doing, travelling by night until they came to see Jesus with their gifts. The angel who gave them this news never told them to visit baby Jesus or send gifts, but they did.
Our Savior deserves more than two holidays to celebrate His first coming. His birth ought to be celebrated every day. But Christmas should heighten it even more.
His presence over our presents
Although Jesus isn’t physically on earth, He continues to use Spirit-filled men and women to impact the world with His Word. In seasons such as these, we can honour His name by recognising how precious His presence in our lives and societies creates a lot of multi-dimensional godly changes.
It’s good to give gifts to others. But all physical presents are corruptible. There’s a better gift you, as a Christian, can offer to someone caught in the joy of Christmas without knowing Christ: it’s called salvation.
The Gift of God
Scripture says salvation is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8). But the one who makes this gift incorruptible is Jesus. In a season where many people imagine the best gifts to put in a wrapper for home relatives and friends, we must desire to present Jesus to the lost.
God so loved us, and it led Him to give Jesus, His only begotten Son to come into a world where nobody knew him. In the same way, many people may celebrate Christmas with us as believers in Christ. But we, through God’s help, can express God’s love unto them by helping them to get saved.
Merry Christmas!
