Getting Ready For Christmas (Updated)

Getting Ready for Christmas

Watch on our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YW1yvKZGFmY

Christmas is right around the corner and already as a society we’ve endured a month of Black Friday, a time when we can get the best deals on our Christmas giving.

This got me thinking about how our society gets ready for Christmas.

 Weekends will be filled with anxious shoppers trying to get everything on their Christmas list, that is until they reach their debt limit on their credit cards. They’ll go from store to store, from one Internet site after another all to find that special gift at the best possible price, and they’re not afraid of a little knock down drag out fight to get it.

So much for a season of peace, comfort, and joy! They’re right out the window!

And let’s not forget the decorations. Many do it up big time. They put up their Christmas lights, Santa and his reindeer on the roof, snowmen on their front lawns, and they substitute Jingle Bells for their front door chime.

And then there is the inside of the house as we put up our Christmas trees, wreaths, and hang up our Christmas Socking’s with care. With bows, balls, and bulbs we decorate just about every inch of our homes.

But before we can decorate anything we have to do a thorough cleaning so that we can make room to put up all these wonderful decorations, which means we’re not parking our cars in the garage.

And so, with a great deal of time and money we ready ourselves for Christmas.

But what about the baby Jesus in the manger part of Christmas? What about Him?

If it were up to the world they would outlaw the baby, they’d outlaw Jesus. They take Him and the manger scene down in the public square. They forbid any mention of Him. What they want is to take the day where we celebrate the birth of Jesus and make it no longer a holy day but a holiday and celebrate it as a cultic celebration known as “Winter Solstice.”

They’ve taken the name of Jesus or Christ completely out of the holiday and replaced it with the letter “X,” and they take the phrase “Merry Christmas,” and replaced it with the salutation, “Happy Holiday.”

What has happened to Christmas?

What has happened is that we get so caught up with the physical side of Christmas that we neglect the spiritual side. But no matter what society tries to do and turn Christmas into, Christmas always was and will be spiritual.

Christmas is about humanity’s relationship to God through the birth of Jesus Christ, who is both Savior and Lord, who came to reconcile us to God the Father.

So, the question becomes, “How do we prepare for the spiritual side of Christmas?”

Let me share with you some of the ways that I believe we should get ready for Christmas based on those who were there and what they did.

1. Focus on Christmas’s Purpose

Our society sees Christmas as a time to give and receive gifts. It’s where we can get a couple of days off work. And it’s a time where people get drunk and party, breaking just about every one of God’s Ten Commandments.

And as we can all guess, this is the furthest thing from what the real purpose of Christmas is all about.

The purpose is to remember that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16).

Therefore, Christmas is to remember that Jesus left His heavenly estate and came down to earth as a baby for this very purpose, and that is to be one of us so that He could become that perfect sinless sacrifice for our sin so we can have an eternity in God’s presence.

Jesus was born to be the sacrificial Lamb of God.

This was initially promised through Abraham as he was about to offer his son, Isaac.

The Lord said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” (Genesis 22:8 NKJV)

I really find the wording interesting and revealing. God would provide Himself as the lamb, that is, God would be the Lamb.

And so, Jesus came just as John the Baptist declared, saying, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29 NKJV)

Therefore, to focus on the purpose of Christmas is to focus on Jesus Christ, the second person of the Godhead who came to earth to provide Himself as that sacrificial Lamb in order to die for our sins so that we can have eternal life with Him in heaven.

Another way that we can prepare for Christmas is to follow the example of another who was intimately involved in the very first Christmas.