What is Christmas?
The gospels according to Luke, Matthew and Mark give us an account of the events that took place, but today I want to take you to live and experience the true meaning of Christmas!
Above all I’d like to say, so as to not be misinterpreted, that I’m not telling you that you can’t have a Christmas tree, go out shopping at the mall, nor get together and celebrate with food, but that we must know what Christmas means and never let it lose its essence. Christmas is not about you or me, it’s all about Him: Jesus, the Son of God!
There are some verses in the Bible that will lead us to discover the true meaning of Christmas. So let’s get started!
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come! 18 Everything is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. 19 That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed the message of reconciliation to us.
20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf: “Be reconciled to God.” 21 He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (Read 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 CSB)
People think that Christmas is the birth of Jesus in a manger, that the shepherds in the area saw the angel that announced the birth of the Son of God, that the wise men went to give him gifts of myrrh, gold and frankincense. These were the events, but it’s not the true meaning of Christmas.
Christmas is: the celebration of the historical moment in which God came to earth in the person of His beloved Son, Jesus, to reconcile the sinful man to Himself through His substitutionary death on the cross.
Many celebrate Christmas as tradition, but that doesn’t mean that they’re celebrating a biblical Christmas. It has nothing to do with shepherds, angels, gifts, wise men, Santa Claus, and so on.
I’d like to share with you two key words in order to know what a biblical Christmas is:
Incarnation: This means that the Son of God came to earth as a baby, conceived in Mary through the Person of the Holy Spirit. **We must have it clear that Jesus didn’t become the Son of God, He already was before incarnating in a baby, growing up, becoming a man, and dying for us. Jesus didn’t become God, He already was God before He came; He was God, He is God and for all eternity He will be the Son of God. Only through Christ Jesus do we become children of God.
(Read 1 John 1:1-2 NLT)
We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life. 2 This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us.
(Read Philippians 2:5-11 NLT)
You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
6 Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. 7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave
and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, 8he humbled himself in obedience to God
and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
9 Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
2) Reconciliation: Through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, the Son of God brought unity. He separated us from hostility in order to have peace and order between two person; those two persons are: God the Father and the sinful man, through the Blood of Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God. There we find two relationships restored by the great love of the Heavenly Father by sending His Son, Jesus, to reach us. This means that we didn’t reach God, but it was He, thanks to His everlasting love, who reached us.
When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. (Read Romans 5:6 NLT)
And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. 14 The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him. (Read Ephesians 1:13-14 NLT)
What was God the Father’s MOTIVATION for sending Jesus incarnated in a child?
Our condition of being incapable of saving ourselves. We couldn’t do it; only God could carry out that action out of love for us. The Apostle Paul said that in our condition we were powerless to do so.
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God… (Read Romans 3:23 CSB)
As the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous— not even one. (Read Romans 3:10 NLT)
God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. (Read Ephesians 2:8-9 NLT)
So then, what is Christmas?
Christmas is incarnation and reconciliation; it’s about the process of forgiveness, redemption and justification of man through Christ Jesus and His Blood. Christmas is all about Jesus, with Him as the main character of the most marvelous play that humanity can ever attend to: the reconciliation of man with God, for the salvation of his soul.
For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. (Read 2 Corinthians 5:19 NLT)
My beloved Jesus is the Way Church, Christmas is:
That God, in His love, chose to come to earth and pay the supreme punishment of sin: death by crucifixion; through which He made it possible for the sinful man to have a personal relationship with Him; by means of a living faith in the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ, the Only and Sufficient Savior of all humanity.
Now we know that Christmas is all about Jesus, and only about Him. It has nothing to do with all the big stores, it’s not about the food, it’s not about holiday trips, it’s not the excuse to overspend, it’s the complete opposite! It is to live in God and to share with the world that Christmas isJesus Christ; that it’s all about Him and not about us.
Thank you for lending me of your valuable time. The fact that you’re reading this devotional tells me that you are hungry for the Lord. I bless you in the body, soul and spirit. I declare that you’ll move forward in obedience unto the Lord.
Bear hugs to all!
-Ap. Darío Eduardo Ojeda
Until next week!
Keep on sharing this with your loved ones. Download right now the app “Jesus es el Camino” [Jesus is the Way], which is available for all mobile devices. If you want to be part of this blessing and participate in our ministry to keep on expanding the Kingdom of God, you can send us an offering through our app or P.O. Box.
May God multiply your seed a thousand-fold!
Remember this—a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop.(2 Corinthians 9:6 NLT)
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