Never Forget what Christmas Declares

Christmas has come and gone. For some of us, the festivities of Christmas are still continuing for a few more days. But the decorations are coming down. The food coma has worn off. The peppermint mochas are thing of the past. The reality that we may have spent more on gifts than we should have is sinking in. The grind of work is back hard core. In a way, everything is back as it was. Another Christmas has come and gone. 

Yet, as Christ followers, there are some very essential truths that Christmas pushes us towards and reminds us of each year. Truths that are not just for the Christmas season, but truths that we desperately need for all of life. Each and every day of our existence should be radically altered by what we celebrate on December 25th.

Christmas reminds us that…

1. God is more full of grace than we think He is. Christmas heralds from the housetops that God is abounding in grace and mercy towards a helpless human race. He has truly looked on our helpless state, our pitiful condition, and His response is one of lavish grace and tender mercy. The most gracious and merciful act on the stage of human history was God becoming man, for the purpose of redeeming us.  
2. God is more eager to save than we think He is. We truly make God “in our image.” We think God is somewhat stingy and cantankerous with His saving grace. We have believed the lie that He needs some coercion to save sinners like us. Yet, the proclamation of Luke 2:11 declares the exact opposite - For unto you is born this day…a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Christmas unequivocally proclaims that God is a saving God apart from any human effort or merit. His eagerness to save doesn't need to be helped out by religious duty, moralism, or human effort. He simply is the God who saves!
3. God is more loving than we think He is. Because we are miserly lovers, we think God is the same. We think His love must be earned or merited. But at the end of the day, God is nothing like us. Love is one of His attributes, which means it is part-and-parcel to who He is. Therefore, John 3:16 is entirely true at every moment in human history - For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son. That “Son-giving” began at the incarnation, and so Christmas declares that God is infinitely loving towards humanity. 
4. God is more able to do Great & Mighty things than we think He is. The little phrase, “nothing  will be impossible with God” occurs in a Christmas passage (Luke 1:37) - for it is what the angel tells Mary. In the birth of Jesus, God did the impossible. Christmas reminds us that God is the God of the impossible. God did the impossible so that we might be reconciled to God. This is the character and nature of God - doing impossible things so that He alone gets the glory. 
5. God is absolutely committed to dwelling with His people. Immanuel (God with us) is not a fictitious reality or an illusive mirage. God with us is not a “one day in the future” event. God with us is here and now. Jesus came so that mankind might be finally and fully reconciled with their Maker, so that Immanuel could once again be a reality. Jesus final words on this earth proclaimed Immanuel - “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). 

So even though the Christmas season has passed - the truths of Christmas must never pass. The truths of Christmas are needed every day if we are going to know God, love God, and live for God. Take comfort today and every day in the truths proclaimed by Christmas!