Most of us do the same thing when it comes to Christmastime. Yes, we all remember that "Jesus is the Reason for the Season" but we've become apathetic to it all. We go to the Christmas service at our churches and read from our Bibles about Jesus' birth, but that's where it all stops. We're more concerned with making sure all our decorations are up, the food is cooked and the gazillion presents are under the tree. Now don't get me wrong, Christmas is my absolute FAVORITE time of the year, but I think up until this point, I've loved it for all the wrong reasons. I used to love it because everything looks pretty and it brings family together.....which are great reasons to love something. But now I've realized that I haven't been paying enough attention to what Christmas actually means...
Jesus was on a throne at the right hand of God...he sacrificed all of that in order to take the form of a human. And not just any human either, he took the form of a fragile and helpless infant. As an Almighty and Powerful God, how much love would it take to take-on the form of one of your own creations? Jesus' sacrifice was HUGE, and extremely important. Sometimes we forget just how big of a sacrifice it actually was...
Another sacrifice we remember was Mary. Mary was a young 15(-ish) year-old girl. She was engaged and had all these dreams for her future. What young girl doesn't dream of her wedding day? Everything in her life was going according to her plan until Gabriel came to tell her she was to become pregnant. She willingly accepted the plan God had for her life. Now, looking back we all say, "Well of course she said yes! She would give birth to Jesus!" but put yourself in her shoes for a second....not only is she a young unmarried girl, but she was engaged. There's now way Joseph would believe that Mary was a pregnant virgin. Back in those days, becoming engaged was just about the same thing as getting married. Once you were engaged, there was no backing out. Any engaged woman who cheated was guilty of adultery, which was punishable by death by stoning. By accepting God's will, Mary was putting her future and her life on the line. Not only that, but she knew that this meant she would be shunned by her family as well. Didn't you ever wonder why shepherds and wise-men were the only visitors of Jesus' birth? They were in Joseph's hometown! He probably had dozens of relatives there, yet they were forced to look for room in an Inn and eventually sleep in a barn. No family visitors, and no family welcome. Mary and Joseph sacrificed so much in order to fulfill the prophecies put in place long before their time. They sacrificed so that we could eventually be saved. They didn't know it at the time, but their sacrifice would turn into a holiday called Christmas.
That's why it's so sad that we let it become something different. We should be honoring the sacrifices made, not using it as an excuse to spend hundreds of dollars on pointless items for ourselves and others. Now don't get me wrong, I don't think there's anything wrong in giving and receiving presents at Christmastime, and I don't want you to think I'm preaching at you either. I just think it becomes a bad thing when we put gifts above remembering the whole purpose for this holiday in the first place. As Christmas gets closer, I know I'll be looking at my own heart to see why my priorities lie...and I encourage you to possibly do the same.
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