Dear Members and Friends of IBCZ,
Last Sunday we considered the importance of keeping all the ingredients of the Christmas season in proper perspective. The parties, the decorations, the gifts, the get-togethers, and all the other festivities of Christmas are great; they bring us some “holiday cheer,” and we can all use some of that. The challenge is keeping the most important element of Christmas, the birth of Jesus our Savior, central in our minds and activities.
Of course, the very idea of making our way through the Christmas season without Christ as the focal point is completely absurd. Imagine five women, all dressed nicely, having a delicious lunch at an exclusive restaurant. A friend of one of the women happened to be at the restaurant as well, so she came over to the table to greet her friend and ask her what the special occasion was. She replied, “We’re have a birthday party for my son. He turns three years old today.”
“But where is your son?” inquired her friend.
“Oh, he’s at home with the babysitter. It wouldn’t have been nearly as fun with him here.”
How ridiculous that would be – having a birthday party for someone and not even including them at the party. Yet how easily we can fall into that same pattern when it comes to Christmas; we get caught up in the holiday spirit but neglect the One whose birth it is.
When we think of all His coming means for us – that God Himself came to us in Christ to forgive our sins and so that we can experience the fullness of His love forever, how can we not, with hearts full of gratitude, make Christ the main focus of our Christmas celebrations? So, let us consciously keep Christ at the center of our Christmas season.
Grace and peace,
Pastor Bob