We’ve seen the saying “Jesus is the Reason for the Season”
on wallhangings, yard decorations, Christmas cards, and tshirts. It is a
well-meaning Christian’s way of trying to remind us that this time of year is not
about presents, egg nog, big screen tvs, or Santa Claus. But the fact is, the
cliché just isn’t true.
The real reason for the season? You. The first Christmas
when baby Jesus lay in the manger, and every Christmas since, has been for
you—Even if no one else in the world existed. You are God’s reason. Love is
God’s motivation. Jesus was God’s perfect and only means to a glorious end.
Okay, well maybe it is just semantics but hear me out. This
may take a few minutes so grab a cup of coffee and get comfortable. You want, you
NEED to hear this.
It has been described as the greatest love story ever told.
One you’ve heard in bestselling novels, watched on the movie screen, imagined
in your daydreams as a teenager.
A boy and girl love each other deeply, but the girl wants to
know what is out there, so she ventures out to discover herself, claim her
independence, and make a life of her own.
And the boy lets her go but he loves her still, unconditionally,
unrelentingly, waiting for her to notice
that his love is what is missing from her perfect or not so perfect new
life. And at the end of the story, at
the perfect time, he makes a grand gesture of his love and she realizes that
the only life she wants to live is one with him by her side.
The reason this touches our hearts is because somewhere deep
inside we know this is our story. We are the girl and God is the boy.
Throughout all of history, humankind has sought to discover herself, prove she
can make it on her own. And God has let us venture out in the spirit of free
will; love is not true love if it is forced.
Every person to ever live has done this including me and including you.
But he loves you still, unconditionally, unrelentingly, waiting for you to
notice that His love is what is missing from your perfect or not so perfect
life.
Rather than running through an airport to stop your flight,
rather than standing on a lunch table to serenade you, rather than driving
across the country to stop your wedding to Mr. Wrong, God sent Jesus as his
grand gesture of His love.
He didn’t come to prove He was the greater than any other
god. If no one believed God was glorious, he would be glorious still. God does
not need our approval or our praise to be Him. He is. He was. He always will be,
in spite of us humans. Instead, he came because he loves you and wants you to
know the joy and peace and love that he designed you to feel.
He didn’t come in full strength and stature with an army
behind him ready to kill all the bad guys. Instead, he came as a fragile,
innocent baby, born to a poor teenage girl in the presence of farm animals.
His life was not easy. Not the life of a king. Not the life
of a god. Not the life of one whose birth would alter history’s keeping of
time. He lived in hiding the first part of
his life because of King Herod’s decree to murder all the boys his age, in an
attempt to stifle the prophecy of a newborn king,
Prior to his 30th birthday, he was a lowly
carpenter without riches, without fame. He bore witness to the pain of those all
around him. After three years of ministry, he himself endured heartache, grief,
disappointment, loneliness, humiliation, false accusations, betrayal,
suffering, torture, and even separation from God, his father as evidenced when
he cries out on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?!” Why did
he do all this? Because of His great love for you.
Satan himself bombarded him with the greatest temptation
known to man. Yet he stood firm. Why? Because of His great love for you.
Yes, 33 years after that first Christmas morning, he was
mutilated and tortured before being killed on the cross. The son of God, who
could have called on heaven’s entire army of angels to come down and save him,
didn’t. He could have simply ascended into heaven and out of the reach of those
who beat him and spit on him and mocked him.
He didn’t. Why? Because of His great love for you.
His love is unlike any we experience on earth. It is
unceasing. His unconditional love does not require you to be perfect, sinless,
clean, lovely, or beautiful. He knows you. He sees you. He has seen every
moment of your entire life and he loves you anyway.
His blood needed to be spilled to atone for our Sin. Your
Sin. He gave himself as a sacrifice so that in this life we could be in a
relationship with him, and receive his comfort, his encouragement, his wisdom,
his joy. He rose from the dead so that
after your inevitable death on earth, you could be raised to a new eternal life
in heaven with him.
Whether you have never known the love of God or whether you
have lost sight of it, I pray that you will choose to see through the wrapping
paper and tinsel this Christmas, to see the real reason for this season. You…
and the incredible love that God has for you.
Watch this video and listen to a beautiful song about the reason for Christmas:
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