Why I Celebrate Christmas

Larry Hill
December 2008

Christmas is the day to recognize and celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. My wife and I have three children. They are in their teens and twenties now. When our kids were young, my wife would bake a birthday cake at Christmas time and our family sang happy birthday to Jesus. This was in addition to the Christmas tree, presents and decorations. It helped our kids understand the true meaning of Christmas.

Jesus Christ is important to me for many reasons, but I would like to point out the first and foremost reason.

You see God is perfect. I am anything but perfect. I have no doubt that God created the universe and all that is in it. I have no doubt that God is all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-loving. The Bible speaks clearly to these things and I have done the intellectual questioning and research to realize that the Bible is trustworthy. According to the Bible, God created all that exists in order to be in relationship with people; the very beings he created. My little brain has trouble truly comprehending that.

Relationships are a function of choice. You can choose to be a friend with someone or you can choose to ignore that same person. In order to have relationships with people, God gave each of us a free will; the ability to choose. We can choose to be in relationship with each other or choose to ignore each other. Likewise, we can choose to be in relationship with God or choose to ignore Him.

If I choose to ignore God, then God will honor that and I will feel alone in the universe. Sure my friends can comfort me, but if I do not have a relationship with the Creator of the Universe then I will feel alone in the universe.

If I choose to have a relationship with God, then His character demands that I be perfect. He is holy and perfect and all who are near him must have the same character. I am in no way perfect, but I choose to be in relationship with God. Therefore, I have a problem.

Think of it this way. God gave each of us a free will so that we can choose to be in relationship with Him or choose to ignore Him. Because of that free will we can choose to do right and choose to do wrong. God has a high standard. The Bible says, that “God is love” and that “love is not selfish.” Therefore, God is never selfish. To meet God’s standard of perfection, I can never be selfish. Well, I tried being perfect for one day, and it did not work. I chose to be selfish several times that day.

Because of this free will we make mistakes and all who came before us made mistakes. This lack of perfection cannot exist in the same space as perfection. Think of two cans of paint; one white and one red. They can exist separately from each other but they cannot exist together unless they each change their nature. To be together, the cans of paint would mix and the perfectly white paint would no longer be white. It would be tainted. In order for God to be in relationship with me, I must be perfect or He must become imperfect. Neither of these options will work.

The Bible says in the book of Romans chapter five, "At just the right time Christ died for ungodly people. He died for us when we had no power of our own. It is unusual for anyone to die for a godly person. Maybe someone would be willing to die for a good person. But here is how God has shown his love for us. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. The blood of Christ has made us right with God."

This is truly amazing! Jesus Christ took on the weight of the whole world’s selfishness. Everything that anyone has ever done as an act or attitude of selfishness, He took the consequence and paid the price on behalf of others.  The Bible says that He actually went into the darkness on the other side of this earthly life and paid the penalty that awaits imperfect selfish people.

I have to admit, that I don’t fully comprehend this but I have faith. It is by faith that I have accepted this truth and rely on the sacrifice that Jesus Christ paid so that I can be “right with God.” That faith is not of my own doing even that is a gift of God’s that I simply reach out and accept because He offers it freely.

The Bible says in the second chapter of the letter written to the church at Ephesus (NIRV):

You were living in your sins and lawless ways. But in fact you were dead. You used to live as sinners when you followed the ways of this world. You served the one who rules over the spiritual forces of evil. He is the spirit who is now at work in those who don't obey God. At one time we all lived among them. We tried to satisfy what our sinful nature wanted to do. We followed its longings and thoughts. God was angry with us and everyone else because of the kind of people we were. But God loves us deeply. He is full of mercy. So he gave us new life because of what Christ has done. He gave us life even when we were dead in sin. God's grace has saved you. God raised us up with Christ. He has seated us with him in his heavenly kingdom because we belong to Christ Jesus. He has done it to show the riches of his grace for all time to come. His grace can't be compared with anything else. He has shown it by being kind to us because of what Christ Jesus has done. God's grace has saved you because of your faith in Christ. Your salvation doesn't come from anything you do. It is God's gift. It is not based on anything you have done. No one can brag about earning it. God made us. He created us to belong to Christ Jesus. Now we can do good things. Long ago God prepared them for us to do.

Many years ago, I realized just how selfish I am and my need of God’s grace. I reached out to Him and accepted His offer. Because of God’s grace and this gift of faith that I have accepted, I now have a relationship with the Creator of Universe that is full of joy, adventure, and peace. I sense the presence of God in my life each day and the challenges of life are faced with a joy that is hard to explain but great to experience. The Bible is alive to me with truth that I need each day for joyous living. I thank God for sending Jesus Christ to Earth. I am in awe of the mystery of a baby lying in a manger; the Savior of the World. One day in Heaven, God will make all mysteries known to those who are in relationship with Him. Wow! I hope to see you there.

Merry Christmas!
Larry

P.S. Please let me know what you think. I would love to talk with you if you have any questions about this article.