Skip to main content

Jesus is the Reason for the Season

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  (John 3:16)

I was at an account this past week and I overheard a couple people talking about Christmas.  It seemed like a pleasant conversation at first, but then it turned disrespectful.  One guy in the group started to rip on Christianity and in a very condescending tone stated, “What’s the big deal about Christmas?  It’s just about gifts anyway?”

I wanted to jump into the conversation, and tell him all about the true meaning of Christmas.  I wanted to tell him that Christmas isn’t about the presents.  It’s about a man who humbled himself to reunite the two things that meant most to Him: His heavenly Father and all of mankind.  It’s about a man who was born to die and be the perfect and final sacrifice.  It’s about a man who forever lives to intercede for the people He loves.

I decided to keep my words to myself as my anger with his attitude was too great.  I offered up a prayer instead, and before too long I began to agree with the very man who had spurred my wrath just minutes before.  I realized that he was right; Christmas is all about the gifts – it’s about the greatest gift that mankind has ever given or received.

May God bless you all this Christmas.  May we always remember the man for whom we celebrate this day and the reason why He came. I pray that someday the man at this account will too.

Popular posts from this blog

Farewell Mike

  “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” (James 5:16)   Last September, Dee and I made an extremely difficult decision to switch churches. The toughest part was leaving behind our “small group” made up of people that have become like family.  For decades, biweekly between the months of September and May, we’d get together to worship and pray with and for one another.  The prayers offered up there I firmly believe changed the trajectory of many lives for the better.     Back in 2015, an older gentleman, Mike, joined our group and we hit it off right from the start.  Mike was a prayer warrior – if I knew Mike was praying for us, I just had a deeper peace that whatever the situation was, it was going to work out for the best.  Mike also had the best memory I’ve ever been around – he even came to know my schedule...

The 25th Wedding Anniversary

“He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the Lord.” (Proverbs 18:22)   July 1st marks Dee and my 25 th  wedding anniversary.  How could time have gone so quickly?  It seems like just yesterday Dee was walking down the aisle, and here we are looking back at so many years gone by.     Those years have been filled with not only many mountain-top moments, but also times of hardship and sorrow.  Thankfully, those difficult times have helped bring us only closer.  As time has gone by, we’ve navigated toward doing almost everything together – we’ve found through times of separation, we simply work better together as a team.     The success of that team is not a mystery to us – on day one we put Jesus at the center of our marriage and there He shall always remain.  Oh, the many times He’s been there to right and steady our ship as its sailed thru stormy seas.    I’d be remi...

The Christmas Shoebox

  “And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.     Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” (Matthew 6:7-8)   Two Saturdays ago, I had one of those non-stop days.  I got up early and had hours of intense office work to do.  After that, I took a break from that to help Dee get the Christmas decorations up.  After that, I switched to get some urgent outdoor items done before the Minnesota frozen tundra took over for the winter.  I capped the day by switching back to the intense office work for a couple hours.   At about 9 pm I was ready to collapse in a heap when Dee said, “we have to get the Christmas shoeboxes put together so we can take them to church tomorrow”.  After thinking about it for a minute, I reluctantly agreed.   Thankfully, Dee had taken the lead on buying everything for 4 boxes (...