Life without Christmas

Have you ever taken the message of Christmas for granted? Each year, we hear the wondrous account of how the Virgin gave birth to a Son and laid Him in a manger, of angels sharing the good news with shepherds who came with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the Baby lying in a manger, and of magi who followed a star which led them to where the Child was. But imagine what the world would be like if those events never happened. How would your life be different?

For one thing, we would still be holding on to a promise of a Savior as opposed to the promise being fulfilled. And with that might come questions and doubts about what our eternal destiny really is. But with the wonder of true God also becoming true man, God has come to us, fulfilling the promise to send One who would crush the evil one that we might have life through faith in Christ as the forgiven, redeemed children of God, looking forward to Eden restored and the wonder of the Father's house.

My prayer for all of us is that the Holy Spirit would work in us renewed appreciation for and joy over the Good News of a Savior being born who has come for those He dearly loves that we might be with Him now and forever. And when the time comes to put the decorations away, my prayer is that the wonder of the season is not put away as well, but that the Reason for Season is our joy for each day. As the hymn puts it: Let our gladness have no end, alleluia! For to earth did Christ descend, alleluia! On this day God gave us Christ, His Son, to save us; Christ, His Son, to save us. Lutheran Service Book #381, v. 1