It’s almost been two weeks since Christmas. 

Presents have long since been opened, stockings ravaged and enjoyed. Nostalgia is in full force as you cuddle up in your favorite chair, staring into the tree, enjoying the beauty before it’s taken down, dreaming of plans and goals for a new year.

Perhaps the days leading up to Christmas weren’t the most peaceful. All the last-minute wrapping, baking, decorating, and gift-buying brought more stress than Christmas joy. And perhaps amidst all the busyness, you’d lost sight of the true meaning of Christmas. Maybe the 25th snuck up on you and suddenly it was over just as quickly as it came. 

If that sounds like you, don’t worry. You are not alone. Not by a long shot. 

With the excitement taking place in the city of Bethlehem due to the national census, it probably took more than a few days for its residents to even know that Jesus had been born. So when the Shepherds came spreading the joy and good news that a child was born whose name was Jesus, Savior, throughout the city, some of them might have been confused. 

“Who’s Jesus?” they asked themselves, “What do you mean, a new child was born? I didn’t see a baby!” So wrapped up in their own excitement of the week, they missed the birth of a Savior. Let’s not be like these people this year. As you go about your day cleaning up the remnants of Christmas, taking down the tree, and folding away the stockings, ask yourself: What difference has Christmas made in my life?

Are you living a life that is reflecting the sacrifice of God’s only son? Did the fact that a Savior was born to save your life by giving up His make a difference in your life? In your year? Or are you standing in the 25th’s echo wondering what you missed? 

All the fun things about Christmas, the lights, gifts, cookie making, etc, are just bonuses—they’re not the “true meat” of the Christmas season. So, as we put away Christmas, remember that we can never put away Jesus who is Christmas embodied. 

In Acts 1:11, Jesus was taken up to heaven to be glorified and two men in white robes came to the followers as they were standing watching him ascend and told them, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!”

Christ has been born, risen, glorified, and is alive in heaven today. That should compel us to be on the move as well. Don’t wait until next Christmas to either do good or remember the reason for the season. 

As Colossians 2:6 tells us, “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him.”

Christmas is a reminder that our Redeemer lives, that He reigns above, and He’s coming for us soon. It’s a truth to carry close as we journey into a new year equipped with its own challenges and joys. 

While the 25th is just one day, it doesn’t have to be. 

Christmas can live on well beyond a day because our Redeemer lives. The Christmas story is one that is applicable to our everyday life because:

The reason for the season is sin. 

The reason for the season is pain.

The reason for the season is suffering. 

The reason for the season is _____________.

We forget that we have Christmas because God sent His one and only son (Jesus) into the word so that He could save us from ourselves, from our sin, from our pain, and from our brokenness. 

It is only because of Jesus’s birth that we have hope at all. It is only because of Jesus’s birth that we can even fathom feelings of comfort and joy. Jesus didn’t come to make a show or become a cameo of history. No, He came to give hope to the blind, the lame, to heal the sick in body and in heart, and to destroy the works of Satan. 

He came…to give us life. 

So, let us not allow the fading glam and glitz of Christmas to keep us from holding close the real meaning of the day we celebrated. 

He came for you.

He came for me.

He came so that we may live for eternity with him.