Christmas always comes way too fast. I feel like just yesterday my family and I ate cinnamon rolls for breakfast, sat in our living room, read the Christmas story, gave each other gifts, then headed off to our grandparents’.
But nope – that was 365 days ago.
And here Christmas is again! And don’t get me wrong – I love Christmas! All the lights, trees, decorations, our Christmas puzzles, cookies, hot cocoa, eggnog…
But I feel like a lot of the time we stray away from and forget the true meaning of Christmas.
Sometimes I get tired of hearing the Christmas story. Like, “Really, again? I’ve heard this so many times.” But the reason why I’m hearing it again is because it’s so easy to forget. It’s so easy to get caught up in buying gifts and wrapping them, Christmas parties, Christmas movie nights, decorating cookies, and everything else that comes with this holiday season.
And that is why I wrote this: to remind you why we are celebrating today.
We are celebrating God, sending His son Jesus down to earth. But it’s so much more than that.
Prophecies in the Old Testament tell of a Messiah coming down to earth to save his people, but those people had to wait hundreds of hundreds of years. Have you ever been waiting for something? (Obviously not for hundreds of years, but think of a time where you had to wait a while.)
I’m sure, as people were waiting for Jesus to come, there were a lot of doubts. Doubts like, “Is Jesus really coming?” “Did God forget?” “Does God care?” “Is God going to keep his promise?”
Something I’ve really learned this past year is God provides and he keeps his promises. God said he would send Jesus – and he did. No, he didn’t forget. He was waiting for the right time.
You can really learn a lot from the Christmas story. Maybe you’re waiting for something in your life right now – remember how long people had to wait for Jesus, and remember how God didn’t forget; He was just waiting for the right time.
The Christmas story is really epic. Yes, the simple version is cool, but if you really look deeper into the Christmas story, it can really blow you away. (If you have a chance today, it’s a good idea to take some minutes out of your day to spend time with God and read the Christmas story like I did this morning while I was waiting for everyone else in my house to wake up;))
Thanks for taking a few minutes to read this! Merry Christmas, and don’t forget the CHRIST in CHRISTmas:)
Thank you for the wonderful devo Charity! You always share important insights that bless others. I’m looking forward to reading more from your heart, mind and spirit in 2023!