MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone! May the grace and peace of the Lord Jesus Christ be multiplied to your spirits. And may all of you have the greatest joy known to mankind—knowing Christ and being known by Him through saving faith. 

The prevalent thoughts and images about the "spirit" of Christmas usually involves: Santa Claus, worldly peace, sweets, merriment, feasting, lavish gift giving and receiving, the hustle and bustle of shopping and enjoying elaborate entertainment events to celebrate the birth of Jesus—the First Coming of Christ, the only begotten Son of God. But none of these things are found in any of the Old Testament prophecies or in the New Testament accounts of the great and glorious day that our Creator entered into His own creation as a humble babe.

Please don't misunderstand, I'm not saying we ought not enjoy celebrating Christmas. My family does. What I am saying is, the focus and purpose of our joyful celebrations should be the same as God's focus and purpose: to bring the Good News of eternal salvation by giving us Christ as a propitiation for our sins.

The true spirit of Christmas and the reason for the season according to God is: eternal salvation.

"I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel...Abraham said, 'God will provide for Himself a lamb for a burnt offering, my son.'

"I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a Light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness...He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intercede; then His own Arm brought Him salvation, and His righteousness upheld Him...And a Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,' declares the LORD.

"She will bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.

"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord...And it was revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ...for my eyes have seen Your salvation that You have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light of revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to Your people Israel."

~Gen 3:15, 22:8; Is 42:6-7, 59:16, 20;

Mt 1:21; Lk 2:11, 26, 30-32 (ESV)

The spirit of Christmas isn't about just being happy and more thoughtful to others than we would be any other time of the year. It isn't about making sure everyone says "Merry Christmas" rather than "Happy Holidays". The essence of Christmas is the Son of God, coming in human form, to save sinners from what our sins have earned us: the wrath of God, which is eternal damnation in Hell.

This is why Christ came the first time. This is the Good News. This is the peace of God. This was God providing His own Lamb for the final and only acceptable sacrifice—for the remission of sins.

We nonchalantly say "The reason for the season is Christ". But we don't finish the sentence. The reason for the season is Christ came to save sinners...like you and me. 

So let us, the beloved children of the Most High God, stop trying to make the world do what they can never do on their own; give honor, praise and glory to our Lord Jesus (Heb 11:6). And let us stop entertaining the worldly and ephemeral, warm and fuzzy feelings of Christmas through decorating our homes and mere acts of charity. Rather let us do what Christ came to do—let us engage in spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ, adorning our hearts with His Word, while doing good to others. Because this is the true spirit of Christmas and the reason for this season.

"I've learned so much from my mistakes, I think I'll make more" is a popular phrase that has appeared on many memes, tweets, timelines and even things like magnets, pins, and other items we can purchase. This seemingly harmless saying is actually very harmful. Most of us have read it someplace, and often, our initial response is to laugh, feel better about the genuine mistakes we've made and sadly, even the purposeful sins we've committed against our holy, kind, and gracious Father God. This is where it gets dangerous.

Do we all make mistakes? Absolutely! To err is human, right? Unfortunately, to sin is human too. And we all do it more than we'd like to admit...unless of course, a flighty little phrase like this one comes along and feeds our flesh the lies it desires—we can excuse our sins without repentance—and without a Savior.

We continually come up with new ways to make ourselves and others feel better about our sins rather than do what God says; repent. We say things like, "No one's perfect", "God knows my heart", "I'll ask for forgiveness later", and my all time least favorite, "Oh, no need to ask for forgiveness, we all do ______." That last one makes us all sound so holy and full of grace and mercy, doesn't it? But it's not holy, gracious or merciful. It's just our old, sin-filled, depraved heart and mind excusing the sin of others so we feel justified when we do the same.

I can't tell you how many times I've repented and asked for forgiveness for gossiping, being unkind, being thoughtless, responding in pride, being self-centered and...well, you get the picture (Rom 7:21-24). Most times, rather than receive the forgiveness I've requested, I get "No need to ask for forgiveness, this is a time for grace." What?! That's not grace, that's excusing my sin. And trust me, I don't need help making excuses for my sins. I'm already good at that. What I need is encouragement not to sin and not to make excuses when I do, but repent to God, then to those who've been injured by my sin. What I need is accountability. And that's what you need too.

Do we need to repent for mistakes? No, because mistakes aren't sins. For example, if I misquote someone because I remembered something incorrectly or give you wrong directions because I forgot to include a necessary turn, I'm not sinning, I'm simply human and can't do anything "perfectly". However, if I misquote someone on purpose, adding or subtracting what they said and adding my own twist in order to make my point, then that's manipulation (which is a sin). If I purposefully give you the wrong directions so you're late because I know it'll make you look or feel bad, that's a sin. Sometimes discerning what is and isn't a sin can be difficult for onlookers, but it's not for God and shouldn't be for those who are examining their hearts in the light of God's Word.

Motives (which can't be seen) often distinguish between sins and honest mistakes. But gossiping, being unkind, thoughtlessness, responding in pride and being self-centered are obvious sins many of us entertain, and excuse in others; as well as ourselves.

Repentance is a gift from God that leads the lost to saving faith, and provides continual sanctification for the saints, yet, much like unbelievers, we children of God, still find repentance repulsive. We call evil good and good evil when we accuse someone of being judgmental and unloving when they love us enough to pierce our sin-filled flesh with the Word of God and shine His brilliant light on our sins.

The most unfortunate part about our lack of desire to bear the fruit of repentance is that we keep ourselves from the peaceful fruit of righteousness that God works in all who are trained by His loving discipline. Since we can freely come to God confident He will forgive our sins (Heb 4:16), knowing we will possibly be disciplined but not punished (Heb 12:10, 1 Jn 4:18); why don't we daily, carry our crosses like Jesus commanded and kill the sin in our flesh?

Scripture art by: Biblescreen.com

The LORD God Almighty, Creator of the heavens and the earth—is personal. He could've left us to our sinful natures, miserable, lost and debased. But He didn't. He could've chosen to save us from afar in an impersonal way by zapping us with a lightening rod from the heavens. But He didn't. He could've done so many things us human beings would consider, or even actually do. So let us thank God; that He didn't.

Because God is holy (set apart), He did what only He can do and what He alone is willing to do with no external prodding (as if anyone could "prod" God to do anything). He chose to create, in His own image; human beings. Unlike any other creation, people alone, are His image-bearers. We alone have the ability to reason, to consider things, understand cause and effect, acknowledge our own existence (i.e., animals look in the mirror and think it's another animal, people know it's their own reflection). As God's image-bearers, He has given us emotions, a desire for truth and intimate relationships. He's given every human being a conscience whereby we distinguish between good and evil.

But too often in any religion, whether false religion (i.e., Self, Mormonism, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc.) or true religion (Christianity), we're all prone to the sin of wanting to appear as if we have it all together. We're all proud and boastful, whether overtly or covertly. The only truly humble person who's walked this earth is Jesus Christ the Lord. And only those who abide in Him through faith in His perfectly finished work of salvation can walk as He walked, and only by the power of His Holy Spirit.

Therefore, Jesus alone can rightly act as if He has it all together, because He's the only one that really does. His actions aren't merely premeditated drama to make us think He's a certain way. Jesus' actions are real and true so that we can know with certainty that He is that way. Every way He presents Himself is who He really is. There is no pretense with Christ and there should be none with the those who profess His name.

Rather than deal with us from afar, rather than rescue us in an impersonal and anonymous, unknowable manner, God came in the flesh—in the Person of Jesus Christ, the only Savior for all mankind. God the Father touched all humanity through His Son's physical body. His Son touched our lives by living as one of us, feeling what we felt, struggling as we struggled and living as we live, but was without sin. His Holy Spirit touches our souls by indwelling the spirits of those who repent and trust in the only Son of God. Yet, we refuse to be personal and often shrink back from touching others. Oh, I don't mean the acquaintance like hugs and salutations we exchange. I mean the real life touches that binds hearts and lives. These "touches" aren't always physical, but they always warm and penetrate the soul.

We don't "touch" others, because we're afraid they may have "warts" we don't want to see or deal with. We don't want them to get too close and touch us either, because they may see beyond our plastic and refined religious exterior, and gasp at our warts. Just like we would judgmentally gasp at theirs.

"The truths of God are never meant to be distant theories we abstractly ponder in our ivory towers, but rather truths that find us in real-life pits of despair and dark alleyways and lead us home again. May we never settle for simply 'knowing' that God is strong, but may His strength find us in our weakness."

~The Verses Project, on Psalm 118:13-14

God made Himself known to us in an extraordinary manner—God becoming an ordinary man, so that as His image-bearers, we might make our ordinary selves known to others so that they might see the work of our extraordinary God in us. You see, only when we are willing to be real, only when we are willing to boast (that is, speaking at length) about our weaknesses (2 Cor 12:9-10) can anyone see how extraordinary, how awesome, and unlike us, our Lord truly is. It's difficult to distinguish or grasp the true beauty of a treasure if it's surrounded by fake polished gold. But it's not difficult for anyone to see treasure in the midst of a dunghill.

God is real. God is personal. And as His beloved children, we ought to be too.