How do you focus on Christ at Christmastime?
Our culture tends to commercialize holidays and camouflage the Christian elements. It's important for Christians to maintain the biblical focus, and one way we can do that is to create or adopt Christ-centered traditions for our family.
My mother created a wonderful tradition when I was a child. She would bake a birthday cake and on Christmas evening we would each light a candle on the cake and express our gratitude for Christ.
Let me offer some other ideas friends have shared with me:
1. Before or after you unwrap a gift, pray for the person who gave it to you (1 Timothy 2:1).
2. Involve your whole family in preparing a gift basket for a needy family. There are many Christian organizations that arrange this type of project (James 2:14-17).
3. Help serve a meal at the local rescue/homeless mission (Matthew 25:34-40).
4. Make the story of Christ's birth a central part of your celebration. You can do this in a number of ways, the more the merrier: read the Christmas story from the Bible, provide coloring pages for younger children, reenact parts of the story, watch wholesome movies about Christ's birth, etc.
5. Make sure some of your tree decorations include names of Christ, scripture verses, and/or nativity scenes.
It’s easy to get swept up in the busyness of Christmas and lose sight of the real meaning of the holiday. I encourage you to think of ways you can add meaningful traditions to your celebration.
It’s easy to get swept up in the busyness of Christmas and lose sight of the real meaning of the holiday. I encourage you to think of ways you can add meaningful traditions to your celebration.
These 1-minute devotions can help:
6 Things to Believe in at Christmas
8 Steps to a More Meaningful Christmas
I encourage you to check out the Wisdom for Life Devotional. It contains 100 one-minute devotions to challenge, encourage, instruct, and inspire your love for God's Word.
If you'd like to know why Wisdom for Life might be a good gift for you or your loved ones, see 10 Reasons Why You'll Love Wisdom for Life.
Bible Love Notes
Is it true Jesus wasn't born December 25? So why celebrate this occasion
ReplyDeleteHi Ivette, Yes, we don't know the exact date when Christ was born.
ReplyDeleteBut His birth--His coming to earth to save mankind-- is worth celebrating just as every other act of His life and death are worth celebrating whether we know the exact dates or not.
If I adopted a child whose birth date was unknown, I would chose a date to celebrate. We celebrate birthdays and holidays because of the person or event behind them, not because of the date. This holiday season culminating on December 25th I'll be celebrating Christ.
And not knowing the exact date will not keep me from doing that.
I believe in Luke it tells the month Gabriel came to Mary to tell her of this joyous occasion. Looking at the Jewish calendar and then adding nine months put the birth of Christ in March or April. Although, the biggest thing, at least for me, is that He came to set us free. It honestly does not matter when He was born (I don't think) but that He WAS born.
ReplyDeleteI believe Luke tells when John the Baptist was to be born, and from that you can reason when Christ was born, Dec would have been the date of conception. With the birth being in Sept or Oct. The Magi would have come in Dec to visit the young child. As you said, the fact that Christ let heaven to be born, and to die for my sins is the best gift ever presented to the world. Rejoice, the Christ is born!
ReplyDeleteIf you are giving gifts to be opened on Christmas morning, most people attach a name tag to identify each gift's recipient. Why not put a special Bible verse on the tag with the name - or somewhere else on the gift and read the verses out loud on Christmas morning before opening each gift. :)
ReplyDeleteGreat idea! thanks for sharing.
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