I Believe

Our pastor completed his “requirement” to preach at least one “Christmas is too commercialized” sermon earlier this month.   He almost lost me near the middle of the sermon when he made some outlandish charges suggesting that we could ask our family to not buy us any presents in order for us to remember that Christmas was originally about the birth of Christ, not the getting and giving of presents.  While I will admit that I will not being doing this exactly, he did have a good point, mainly - what are we getting excited over?

Near the end of the service he suggested a Christmas morning without a focus on gifts (or any gifts at all).  We would wake up, read the Christmas story together as a family and then pray together.  Perhaps sing a Christmas hymn or song, and then spend time as a family enjoying our day and the relationships we have.  I like this model, because it has always been a temptation for me to focus on the things that we get and give instead of on Christ.  Christ is the focus, and the reason.  It’s His birthday, not ours!  Oh, I forgot to mention, our pastor also recommended a birthday cake for Jesus!


Carolyn and I are going to try that model this year.  We will wake up.  We will prepare breakfast and we will read the Christmas story.  We will then spend time in prayer thanking God for sending his only son Jesus to us, and thanking Jesus for joining us in this broken world, to experience what we experience.  We will then undoubtedly carry on with our day very similarly to how we have done Christmas in the past, but the focus will be different.  In the forefront of our thoughts will be excitement, not over the chocolate we will receive or any other present, but over the resounding fact the Jesus was born to bring light into a world of darkness.

For I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord.  I believe He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born to a virgin named Mary.  I believe He suffered under a man named Pontius Pilate, and was crucified by him and those in the crowd that gathered.  I believe He died for me!  I believe He died for me knowing that I was going to turn my back on Him and deliberately do wrong.  I believe He was buried; and He descended into Hell, experiencing complete separation from God and all goodness.  But, on the third day I believe with all my heart that He rose again!  He broke sin’s hold on me and restored my relationship with Him!  I believe He then ascended into heaven, and I believe He is seated at the right hand of God the Father, and that He will come again to judge the living and the dead.  And I believe that preparing for His return, telling those who have not heard about Him, and serving Him while I wait is what He is calling me to do and there is nothing more important than that.   And that is why Carolyn and I are willing to give away all our stuff, and fly approximately 4,713 miles away from home to help in the process of getting the Word of God to those who do not yet have it.

What do you believe, and what will your focus be this Christmas?