Christmas Encouragement for MomsНамуна

Fall in Love with Jesus this Christmas

Sweet friend, I’m sure you have so much on your plate right now, and it is easy to be distracted by the glitz and glam of the Christmas season. The decorations are beautiful, the food is scrumptious, and it is such a pleasant time to make memories with your family. But wait! Do not exchange the celebration of the magnificent, glorious gift of our Savior for some pretty baubles, shopping trips, and endless Christmas to-do lists.

Clear away time this season. Say no to some activities, leave some décor in the boxes, and think about the traditions that really bring glory to God. What we are celebrating is huge! Christ came to change everything, and He is coming again soon (Hebrews 9:28)! He asks that we prepare our hearts for Him (1 Peter 1:13). And that preparation requires us to be still and consider what Jesus did for us two thousand years ago when He took the form, not simply of a man, but of a helpless baby at the mercy of the very people He came to save.

He took on the mantle of a servant to people who would betray Him and deny Him (Philippians 2:6-8). He felt the sting of this world and of death for people who didn’t even love Him (John 15:18-25). Moreover, He willingly took on our sin to rescue believers from an eternity of death and separation from our Father (2 Corinthians 5:21). He came to bring you and me, the prodigal children, back to right standing with our Daddy, our Abba Father.

I can hardly believe someone would love me so much! In fact, sometimes it is so overwhelming to comprehend that I would rather hang some Christmas garlands and go over my gift list than try to wrap my mind around the tremendous reality of Jesus pouring out His sacrificial love on the earth. Sometimes it is easier to brave the Christmas crowds at the mall than it is to quiet my heart and ponder Him.

Perhaps the reason it is so difficult for us to grasp the gravity of what happened in that Bethlehem stable so long ago is that we do not truly understand God’s immense love for us. We cannot fathom this amazing love that is unlike any we have ever known: a love that we do not have to strive to obtain (Ephesians 2:8-9), a love which comforts and heals (Psalm 147:3), is steadfast and unchanging (Psalm 86:15), and compels us to love one another (1 John 14:9).

What will it take for us to exchange a preoccupied heart of busyness for a heart of worship this Christmas? Let’s pray, sister, that this year we will be able to understand more deeply than ever how wide and long and high and deep is God’s great love for us (Ephesians 3:16-18), and pray that we will be able to rest in that love and finally find peace. This year, let us focus more on Jesus than on the “Christmas season.”

Maybe we can sweep some of the Christmas craziness aside and really, truly focus on the love of our Savior. Do we really need all of these Christmas extras? Honestly, I probably don’t. I need more time with my Savior, reading His Word—His love letter to me. That is what I want to spend time on this Christmas.

Years from now, it would be amazing to look back on this Christmas and be able to say “that was the year everything changed in my relationship with Jesus. That was the Christmas I truly started to follow Him.” Maybe this is the Christmas we put our to-do lists aside and put everything we can into knowing Him deeper, into praying and fasting, asking the Holy Spirit to empower us to understand the immense love of Jesus. Will this be the Christmas that your heart is filled to overflowing with love for your Savior?

Indeed, every Christmas is one step closer to the year we spend Christmas with our Savior. Are you ready to meet Him? Let’s get to know Him better this Christmas, delight in Him more, take our eyes off of what’s going on around us and fix them on Him. Commit this Christmas to be one in which you fall more deeply in love with Jesus. His gift to us is eternal, my friend, and better than anything under the tree this year!

Love,

Tara Davis and the Help Club for Moms Team

“The Son of God became a man to enable men to become the sons of God.” 

~C.S. Lewis