If you’re like me, you have one of these “Keep Christ in Christmas” magnets stuck on your car. It’s a message that we need to support with action during this season in the church. How important for Christians to consciously and purposefully act on the religious aspects during Christmas-time.
But with a New Year ahead, our saying expands: “Keep Christ Out of Christmas!” and may I add an “as well.” You see, we must not keep Christ only in Christmas. For the birth of Christ is great news. Not because a baby was born, but that a Savior was born. To be the Savior means leaving Christmas, it means moving from Bethlehem to Calvary, from the cradle to the cross. As much as the world pushes against Christmas, it really has no objection to the babe in the manger, so long as He stays there, as long as we keep him stuck in Christmas. Thank God the salvation story moves on and so do we!
With the Wise Men visit, Herod asked the chief priests and teachers where Christ was to be born, and they told him, “In Bethlehem in Judea.” These folks knew the ancient prophecies well, yet having given the right answer, they weren’t even curious to follow through. They returned to their routine without another thought. They were folks who knew the price of everything but the value of nothing.
The irony is that these folks had prayed daily for the coming Messiah. But is wasn’t a Savior they were looking for, a baby born to give Himself so that we might live. They wanted a King to validate their way of life and empower their self-righteousness. They missed the greatest opportunity of their lives because they were lost in themselves.
As we move in to 2025 together, we doing so carrying the Christ, whose birth we have celebrated, beyond Christmas! A Savior has come! He has not only been born long ago, He has been born through faith in our hearts. We need Him in the coming year to save and to lead us! The Lord will richly bless us as we carry Christ beyond Christmas into our worlds!
A Blessed New Year to All! Love in the Christ, Pastor Craig
