“Relationships, not achievements or the acquisition of things, are what matters most in life.” – Rick Warren
“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.” – Bible (1 Peter 4:8)
“December is a frantic month for most of us. But amid all the busyness, the message of Christmas brings us back to first principles. It shows us what love is. And the first principle is this: Jesus gave everything he had because he loved us. He gave his body to the cross because he loved us. Before that, he lived his life in a loveless world because he loved us. But first of all, he came because he loved us. The Creator became part of his creation; the Lord of glory came to this fallen earth, to take upon himself the consequences of the sin of the world.” (Sinclair B Ferguson)
Most of us enjoy the Christmas time of year. With many, there is a touch of sorrow because of loved ones who have been with us in the past but now only are fond memories. There are also the “Scrooges” in the world whose favorite phrase may be “Bah! Humbug!”
As we enjoy all the fun, food and family this time of year, it is easy to forget about the real meaning of Christmas.
George (not his real name) publishes a website where he states that he is a family man, having raised two children, and having long been interested in the “cultural, political, and social roots of our society.”
He says “I don't think there is any one true meaning of Christmas—rather, there are as many meanings as there are people. Yes, Christmas has a history, and that history affects us all, but each family has their own Christmas traditions and meaning. Children find yet a different meaning, and theirs is one that changes as they grow and develop. As a secular family, we don't assign much meaning to the traditional role of religion in Christmas, but we have our own Christmas traditions.”
George doesn’t realize it, but because of what we celebrate at Christmas, our society does have “cultural, political, and social roots."
In "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe," from the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, the heroes and heroines step through the back of a wardrobe into a world where the White Witch controls a land where it was “forever winter but never Christmas.”
“I suggest to you that if you were to step out of your front door on Monday to get on with your ‘normal’ life, into a world where Christmas was unknown, you would, like Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter, be stepping into a world that, however externally familiar, would be as dramatically different as the one they encountered. Instead of a white witch, talking animals and deeds of ‘daring do,’ you would step into a world of barbarity and misery, a society gripped by fear and chaos, and rather than get into your car to drive to the office, you would most likely be hitching up the oxen to plough someone else’s land.” (Pastor Quentin Johnston)
Currently we don’t live in a world controlled by the “White Witch,” although there seems to be pressure to head in that direction. And the reason our world maintains at least a semblance of the true meaning of Christmas is because the event we celebrate at Christmas really happened. There are several songs entitled “Love Came Down.” Here are a few of the words from one by Lenny LeBlanc.
Everybody's got a story everybody's got a song
Everyone's a little different but we all went wrong
Then a Savior came and He took the blame
Changed everything
Then a Savior came and He took the blame
Changed everything
Love broke through my darkness now I can finally see
He paid the price for my freedom no more chains on me
Since the Savior came and He took the blame
Changed everything
Since the Savior came and He took the blame
Changed everything