Christmas is Forever

What I have to share this season feels simple, and yet it struck me as intensely beautiful and profound—like most revelations from God.

The different elements of the Christmas Story—as real and raw as they were in their time—also represent all the different ways Christ wants to encounter us today, different ways we can meet with Him, different things we can offer Him.

This Christmas, respond with eagerness like the shepherds; rather than hardening your hearts, hasten after His voice with vulnerability and rejoicing, and you will see His Glory overshadow your lowliness, weakness, invisibility, and lack. Exalt the way He sees you over what the world thinks of you, and let that be the highest reality in your life. Then, tell the world what you’ve seen and heard.

Like the Wise Men, apply your skills and gifts to Christ’s Work, recognizing that everything you discover is meant to point to Him, and the greatest thing you could do with any position, power, and resources granted to you is to give them to Him. Present yourself to Him with everything you have, kneel in wonder, and experience the greatest gift of all—His Face.

Like Mary, Joseph, Zechariah, and Elizabeth, savor and ponder His words, admiring them like the treasures they are, tucking them away in your heart for the moments when they bubble up and spill over in declarative praise. This focus will help you trust God with the moments you don’t fully understand. And only that trust will let you be part of the “impossible.”

Like Simeon and Anna at the temple, don’t grow weary with looking for what you’ve been promised. Keep your eyes on Jesus so that your heart stays soft enough to recognize the answer when it arrives! Remain in a place of service and belief to fuel your faith. If Christ promised it, you will hold it. You will see it!

Like the angels, take every opportunity to worship. Lift God’s Name on high for all He has done, exult in who He is, and your faith will grow and rise to the next occasion. When we praise Him, we join in the triumph of the skies with angelic hosts and heaven and nature, exalting the Creator, the God who saves!

Christmas celebrates Emmanuel, God with us. God shows up and transforms everything—our lowliness, our abundance, our heights, our depths with His Presence. Give it all to Him this year. Hold nothing back. Everything His light touches will be redeemed and turned into a story that will bless the world for eternal ages to come. Christmas is forever.