Christmas – that golden time when the world halts its everyday routine for something special – is over.
Candle lit services and Christmas pageants are a memory. Gifts have been opened, bows tossed, stockings removed from the mantle, and carols sung. The smell of star shaped butter cookies has faded and gingerbread houses are crumbs. Those festive meals are now extra pounds, but worth every bite. New addresses on Christmas cards from old friends have been recorded. The last phone call to that distant loved one has ended.
As we drink the last of the eggnog, the ornaments are stored and the tree comes down. Now there are bills to pay, clearance items to buy, and presents to return for what we really want. (I love gift receipts!) Soon our daily routine returns and we forget what all the celebrating was about. That’s too bad because the birth of Christ is just the beginning, not an end.
Titus 3:4-7 tells us, “But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
This child of promise, born in a stable’s manger in Bethlehem is God come to live and dwell among us and in us. He came to serve, heal, comfort, and redeem. He is our Savior and friend. He came to save us (Titus 3:5) and do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. Not because we are worthy, but because he loves us. And in this Christ child we have the inheritance of eternal life.
This is indeed cause for great celebration! This good news cannot be confined to just one day on December 25th. The true Christmas is about Christ. It lasts all year long and is continuously filled with gifts of faith, hope, love, truth and peace – all wrapped in a ribbon of God’s grace! We need to keep Christmas every day of the year!
