Christmas is special. It’s not just the food, parties,
presents, and decorating. It’s not even the TV specials,
cookies, eggnog, or Christmas cards. There is something
about Christmas that brings out the best in us.
Sometimes we may get into arguments or get stressed
from too much, but usually, we try really hard to be better
this season of the year. We may let somebody into traffic,
put something in the red kettles, give a gift to a needy
child, hold back that biting remark, and smile. Elvis
Presley once sang, “Why Can’t Every Day Be Like
Christmas?” It can be, and it’s all about gifts.
Gift giving is a part of Christmas. We enjoy seeing the
person we give a gift to light up with delight. It makes us
feel good. In Acts 20:35, as the Apostle Paul shared, “we
must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord
Jesus himself said: “It is more blessed to give than to
receive.’” So we give gifts, especially to the weak, and
God lights up our hearts and we are blessed.
But the key to an everyday Christmas is in gift receiving.
Every day Christmas is about God giving us His gift. John
3:16 says, “God so loved the world that he gave his only
begotten Son so that whoever believes in him will never
die, but have eternal life.” God gave us the greatest gift of
all, His Son, Jesus Christ, who was born to us. God with
us. That’s what we celebrate on Christmas Day.
When we accept the gift of God, accepting Christ as our
Savior, our hearts change and our lives change.
Galatians 5 tells us that our heart will produce fruit of the
Spirit: “Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” If every day
our heart was filled with that fruit, and we lived out that
fruit with others, every day would be like Christmas.
The days leading up to Christmas is a season called
Advent. It’s a time of preparing for Christ to come more
and more into our lives, and more and more into our
world through us. Join us this Advent season as we
prepare ourselves spiritually for the celebration of God
born to us, as we begin a series on the Fruit of the Spirit.
In Christ’s Service,
Pastor Sherry
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