When it comes to Christmas there are so many times when I miss "it". Do you know what I mean? I remember a time about five or six years ago when Christmas was over and I thought to myself, "Is that it?" I know that I am not the only one who has missed "it" at Christmas time. I recently heard a popular radio personality talk about why he has given up on Christmas. He said, "The holiday season is just another opportunity for me to fail." Wow, talk about some serious pain and resentment. Why is it that Christmas brings out so much negative emotion? One of the elders in the church here is from India. I asked him if Christmas in India is anything like Christmas here in the United States. He said that Christmas is not commercialized in India, so there is not an emphasis on gift giving. He said instead they focus on food, family, and food. So here is the deal: the reason I have missed Christmas so often is because I fail to unwrap it. That's right, Christmas sits as an unwrapped present underneath the tree. All pretty in it's wrapping and bow, and I marvel at how wonderful it looks...but I never open it. You see that is pretty much how I operate with Christmas from year to year, doing the decorations and buying the presents...but Christmas is so much more. In fact I think it could be said that Christmas isnt' about trees, lights, or even the giving of gifts. According to John's account of the first Christmas, Christmas is about believing. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. ~ John 1:10-13
I think that probably one of the curses of humanity is that we just flat out miss it. Because of the darkness in which we live we just miss the obvious. But to those who unwrap Christmas, for those who seek and find, for those see it, they discover that God broke through the dimension of time and put on skin to restore, redeem and rescue his creation. When we believe that with all our hearts and follow that light Christmas becomes more real then anything we can ever imagine.
Here's the best part: When we believe we belong. One of core desires in our hearts is to belong. That is why we dress the way we do, act the way we do, seek out people who are like us. We do that because we desperately want to belong. Let me give you an example. In my little neighborhood all the houses around us do Christmas lights outside. Last year we did not do that. So when you drove up to our house at night we were the only house without Christmas lights. This year we have Christmas lights outside. Why? We have Christmas lights outside because we want to belong.
Our hearts yearn to belong. We do so many strange things just trying to fit in. That is probably why we miss Christmas. We miss it, or should I say, we fail to open it because we are trying to find a place to belong. But we do have a place to belong. When we believe in Jesus we are adopted into a family, God's family...and finally we have exactly what our heart was looking for. Because when you believe, you belong.
