It’s December! The Christmas season! The most wonderful time of the year!
The calendar is filling up faster than the flight of Santa’s sleigh and my to-do list is expanding even more than my waistline. Concerts and parties and traditions, oh my!
For as much as we say Christmas is about Christ and “Jesus is the reason for the season,” we sure do a good job making it about a lot of other things. What will happen if you can’t complete all the tasks I planned, don’t buy all the perfect presents, miss out on some get-togethers, and fail to keep all your traditions? Will Christmas be canceled? Will you ruin it for your friends and family?
Here’s how to know if Jesus is your reason for the season:
Your emotions are tethered to His will being done, not yours.
This means that when something you planned gets unhinged, your emotions don’t go crazy along with it because you know and trust that God is sovereign, even in the middle of your plans going awry.
Your mind is consumed with Christ’s goodness, not your to-do list.
This doesn’t mean you’re lazy, but that you work on tasks from a place of peace rather than from a mind ridden with anxiety.
You live within the limits God has placed for you.
This means you make decisions based on prayer and the Spirit’s guidance rather than on “what you’ve always done” or what you feel is expected of you.
You are more concerned with loving and serving others than yourself.
This might look like saying yes to some events that aren’t your favorite. Or it might look like saying no to some events or traditions that are your favorite. God will lead you as you look to Him for guidance. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and don’t lean on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will direct your path” (Proverbs 3:5-6).
You take regular time to worship the incarnate God, who came to do for you what you could never do for yourself.
My husband recently said, “Salvation is received, never achieved.” The Christmas season is a perfect time to celebrate the fact that Jesus Christ came in the flesh, lived the perfect life I could never live, and died a substitutionary death, paying the penalty for my sin so that I could have perfect, lasting peace with God. What a Savior!
I asked earlier what would happen if you didn’t do all the things you planned to do. But what will happen if you do complete your to-do list, buy all the perfect presents, attend every get-together, and keep all your treasured traditions, but fail to worship the Christ of Christmas?
This Christmas, may you find your heart warmed by Christ’s love for you
and energized to worship Him in every aspect of your life.