The Reason for the Season?

This has been a very interesting holiday season for me. I am far away from everything I know. I am far from my friends and family. I am far from the Christmas lights and holiday music. I am far from the shopping malls and the wintry weather. I am far from home and traditions. But being away from everything I know as “Christmas” allows me to draw near to the real reason for the season.

Without the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season surrounding me, I am able to sit in the presence of the Father and truly celebrate the birth of His Son. The Lord is teaching me that Jesus is not just the reason for the season. He is the reason that I live each day. The Lord Almighty sent His one and only Son to be born as a baby in the little town of Bethlehem. He came to bring light into world. He came to give life to all those who believe. He came so that we could know the Father. But the world did not know Him. They did not recognize Him. They despised and hated Him. He was arrested. He was beaten. He was mocked. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth. While being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats. He was hung on a cross to die. He was pierced through for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. He bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. For by His wounds, we were healed. After bearing our sin on the cross, He did not stay in the grave. He was not defeated by death. Rather, He conquered the grave. He conquered death. He rose again so that we could have eternal life. He bore our sins and defeated death so that we might know the Father, so that we could be forgiven, so that we could live an eternity worshiping and praising the almighty God.

This is the good news that the prophets spoke of hundreds of years before the birth of Christ. This is the good news the angels brought to the shepherds on that holy night. This is the good news that Christ proclaimed as He lived on this earth. This is the good news that the early Christians in Acts declared. This is the good news that God has called each one of us to live and proclaim.

I thank God that He took me far from the “Christmas” I have always known so that He could teach me the true reason for not just the season, but the true reason for life. I pray that this Christmas season you will consider the good news of Christ – His birth, His life, His death, His resurrection. Consider the good news that has been proclaimed for thousands of years.

Consider Christ.