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"An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ''Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." --Matthew 1:20-21
The day after Thanksgiving, I turned on the television to watch the morning news, and there they were--commercial break after commercial break, nearly every ad told me of some product that I just had to have to make my loved one happy. Later that morning, I took my 2-year-old son Jason out to the mall to try and find "the perfect gift" for my wife, and the crowds and lines were unbelievable!!
''Tis the season, isn''t it? For racking up credit card debt on all those gifts. For running from one Christmas party to another, or one family gathering to another. For hanging lights and decorations all around our homes and offices. For running ourselves ragged doing all the things our culture tells us that we just have to do to be happy this Christmas.
Over these coming weeks, as we busily go about all the festive activities that come with the season, let us pause regularly to remember the reason we celebrate at this time of year in the first place. The gifts and parties and food and decorations are all nice, but the real reason we celebrate is found in the Scripture passage above. We human beings were in bondage to the worst enemy imaginable--sin. Like the people of Israel in ancient Egypt, we were crying out for God to come and rescue us. And that''s exactly what He did. God sent His one and only Son, Jesus, to live among us, to teach us His ways, and ultimately to do what no one else but God himself could do. He died to save us from our sins. In fact, the very name Jesus means "The Lord saves."
So as you enjoy these coming weeks, and as you celebrate with family and friends, don''t forget that the old cliche is absolutely true: Jesus truly is the reason for the season. Merry Christmas!
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