As everyone knows, Christmas celebrates something bigger than any of us can comprehend. The truth behind Christmas can be summed up in John 3:16: "For God so loved the world, he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."
When this verse is broken down, there's a lot more than what it seems like.
"For God so loved the world": Somehow, God still loved the world despite its evil, cruelty, fleshly desires, and daily denial of Him as Lord. Somehow.
"He gave his only Son": One Son. Only one. He didn't have multiple chances or options or choices. He had one. And He sacrificed Him for something huge.
"That whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life": Now let's just remember who 'whoever' refers to: the world. The people in the world who deny Him, reject Him, curse Him, and ignore Him still have the option of receiving eternal life. Now, eternity is a long time, so long our brains can't understand it. Clearly, the people of the world deserve to perish, to live in agony for eternity with no sight of hope. But, the Lord said that wasn't good enough. The Lord decided He loves these people too much to have that be their only option. He said He loves the people of the world who deny Him and his Lordship daily so much that He will sacrifice his one and only Son's life, that they may know Him and be with Him forever.
That's huge, and a lot of people know this 'capital T' Truth behind Christmas. However, it so frequently slips our minds as the holidays come around and presents start appearing under the tree. Being a Christian myself, I can testify that the world still has a tight grip on me and fighting it is hard. If it didn't, I wouldn't be human. But if we, as Christians, let the world take over during the most potent time when the Truth is able to inhabit people's hearts and change their lives, we've got some work to do.
Nativities sit in our houses. We go to Christmas Eve church services. We pray before Christmas dinner. We know the Truth. We live our lives according to it on a daily basis. We still slip up during Christmas. It's so easy to only focus on the presents and worry about if your gift is good enough and be anxious for the presents under the tree with your name on it. But if people see us more concerned with the presents than with letting people know what Christmas is about, we are wrong, wrong, wrong.
The truth is, we forget, a lot of the time. There is a Truth behind Christmas with more grace, mercy, and love than all the presents in the world could convey. There is a Truth behind Christmas that forgives. There is a Truth behind Christmas that gives life. But there is also a truth behind the Truth of Christmas that we just don't remember it.
As Christmas comes around, let the truth of the Gospel bring you to your knees again. Dissect John 3:16 until your heart aches to know the Lord's forgiveness and love. Let the Truth never leave your mind so that during Christmas, and the rest of the year, your concern is always more about everyone knowing the Truth behind Christmas rather than the red and green gifts under the tree.
A lot of us don't have this down yet, and that's the harsh truth about the Truth of Christmas.
