Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?

December 5, 2009

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”- John 3:16

 

   This is why we must celebrate Christmas. Why? Well, after four days of enjoying the cold morning breeze and chatting with my friends on how swift Christmas is approaching, I heard a message during the youth service, which caused a thug inside of me. Here’s what happened.

Before the pastor started his message, he asked the crowd,  “Anyone of you who feels Christmas is really in the air?”, everyone raised their hands. “Anyone of you who looks forward to the food this Christmas? who enjoys the lights and the singing, the gifts and the partying?”, same raise of hands. “Is there anyone of you who knows what Christmas is all about?”, no hands were raised. It could be easy for everybody to just raise his hand since we knew about the birth of Christ in the manger but nobody did. It was a trick question I thought and I knew the others thought so too. Aside from the fact that it is 99% rhetoric, it was obvious, nobody was prepared to answer when he gets to be interviewed. And so the minister chuckled and said “then, could it be that Christmas means something else?”. Then everyone brought out his pen and paper and started scribbling. Here is what I understood from the preaching:

John 3:16 is one of the most famous verses in the bible. If we are going to dissect the verse, we will understand Two(2) important messages underlying this verse.

First, the phrase “..SO LOVED THE WORLD”, obviously does not talk about the earth revolving or the universe. The world here refers to Us, the people.  God so loved us that He gave Jesus.

Second, the word “GAVE”. To give, if we’ll look for it in the dictionary, means to freely transfer the possession of someone or to hand over somethingto someone. During the old times this verse, which John proclaimed, surprised many of the people. The believers at the early times were used to giving GOD everything they had. They used to be the giver. They were the ones who were willing to offer their sons to God. And when they heard of what John has said, they were in awe. How could God give us Son? They might have asked. But  they chose not to question it for without Jesus, they were not saved, we were not saved.

And so what is the right attitude towards Christmas? The answer is simple. Christmas should be a time of GIVING and not of GETTING something. The problem with us is that we often expect something in return whenever we give. And with Christmas approaching, we expect gifts. And if we don’t receive what we wanted or we don’t receive any at all, we get disappointed just like a child in tantrums. But instead of asking “what can I GET this Christmas?”, we should ask ourselves the question “What can I GIVE this season”. Then there’ll come the difference. Disappointments come because we focus on the things we could get from other people. Relationships come to end whenever a side doesn’t reciprocate what the other is giving. But how about believing you will GIVE to bless someone? For if we do, the promise is tha we will end up happy and never get disappointed. 

 So this season, why don’t we bless one another and remember how God GAVE his SON to save us? Why don’t we show our love to the people around us and even to the people who hurt us just as God has showed his love for us? This season calls for a cheerful giver, despite the issues which might be besetting our lives , our families. God wants His children to celebrate with Him and be happy after giving.

Bottom line is, God gave Jesus to us so that He can show His love for us. Why can’t we do the same?

 

for more words of wisdom on the series : Ancient Prophecies (birth of Jesus)