For many years I have come to find Christmas to lost its festiveness if I can say that. I begin to find that it is just another day that goes by quickly and quietly and nothing else matters the very next day. Sounds a little depressing to an extend.
So as I was reading through Luke 2, I needed to find myself reviving the whole idea of Christmas for me. I had to strip away the whole present giving and receiving idea. I had to forgo my childhood ideal of a white Christmas, I had to forgo the idea of family gathering together and I had to forgo the warm fuzzy feeling of cuddling with loved ones. I had to strip all of these away so that I can rebuild a new perspective of this celebration.
I needed to be reminded that Christmas should be of a celebration of relief... a relief from hopelessness.
There is a sense of hardship that the people of Israel were going through a season of hopelessness. Not having a king to rule the people and only having teachers of the law, Pharisees and Sadducee to dictate a misguided standard of living. Those that knew the law, lived legalistically, those who did not make the cut lived in fear and hopelessness.
But the arrival of Jesus is the first sign of hope, the glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. We should see Christmas as a celebration of hope. So even if I find that life gets unbearable, Christmas should remind me of hope that uncertainty will come to an end, where everything will be made right. Our Deliverer is now here to show us His act of love and bring a solution to our sin.
“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
~Luke 2:14~
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