John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.”

This is Christmas, the season of love and joy and happiness, and yet it is the most stressful part of the year. Why is it stressful? Why do we even celebrate the birth?

As Joe, the president of Ravi Zacherias International Ministries (Canada) says in a speech (abbreviated): There are two parts to Christmas, if we ignore half the reason for Christmas then we just have a holiday and we stress ourselves out.

The two parts of Christmas are- 1) The birth and 2) the death of Christ. We celebrate the birth but forget the death and thus we miss the importance of the holiday. Without the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior we would have no reason to celebrate His birth. The inverse of course is obvious. In Colossians 1 vs 12 and 13, it says: “[We are]giving thanks to the Father, who has made us fit for a share of the inheritance of the saints in light, who delivered us out of the authority of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.”

Christ died so that we may have life. Ephesians 5:2 says “walk in love, even as Christ also loved us and gave Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for an odor of a sweet smell.” This follows 2 Corinthians 5:14 “For the love of Christ constrains us, having judged this, that if One died for all, then all died; 15 and He died for all, that the living ones may live no more to themselves, but to the One having died for them and having been raised…17 So that if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new!”

Christ’s birth and death were God’s perfect way of giving us salvation from our evil desires; from what sins we had wrought, from the death we brought on ourselves when Adam and Eve ate of the fruit. Because God is perfect, for us to be with Him, we must be perfect. If we do even one wrong thing, then we must be separated from Him forever. For us to deal with God, our imperfection, our evilness must be removed, expunged from the record. We can not do that on our own. Our just God has no alternative but to condemn us. His great love for us, His creation, would not let him do that. The only other option was for Him to assume our wrongs. To do that, He sent His son to earth. That is what we celebrate on Monday. His Love. His Birth and the road to His death.

I am sure that you all know of Compassion International. You sponsor a child for a dollar a day, and they have food and medicine, education and clothing. Think of this. Christ is our great sponsor. His blood on that one day provides us with righteousness and cleanliness, water that quenches our thirst and food that fills our spirit, an eternal home and communion with the Most High God. This is what we celebrate on Monday. His Love. His Birth and the road to His death, His sponsorship of us to Salvation.

I leave you with Romans 5:8 “But God showed how much he loved us by having Christ die for us, even though we were sinful.” Christmas and Easter. The Birth, Death, and Resurrection. Christmas and Easter. Our salvation from sin. Celebrate therefore the gift which God has graced you with. Celebrate His mercy and love. Do not hide your faith, and do not forget why we celebrate. Do not hide your faith and do not stutter when giving your testimony. Let His light shine through you and become a blessing to those around you.

May the glory of the Lord light your way. May He bless you and may He guide you to bless others during this glorious time.