By Miriam from Nigeria
I was working on writing a post on Evangelism—something to share with a group of people. My thought was that evangelism is really the heart cry of GOD because evangelism is telling people about Jesus. It’s about getting them to join God’s kingdom, which is what God wants for all mankind since the devil distorted His original plan.
That was my thought…
Then, John 3:16 dropped in my spirit, and it came to me—I am going to use this verse to introduce the post. I googled the TPT (The Passion Translation) version because there’s a way that it speaks to my heart. As I started to read it, I had a light bulb moment. This verse is about CHRISTMAS! It is really why we celebrate Christmas and why we even give gifts at Christmas! And that’s why I am writing this blog post about Christmas.
John 3:16 is Christmas! Yes, I know the Christmas story isn’t stated there like we know it to be. But if you read the TPT version of the verse, I think you will get the gist of why I think it is the meaning of Christmas:
“For here is the way God loved the world—he gave his only, unique Son as a gift. So now everyone who believes in him will never perish but experience everlasting life.”
The only reason God set in motion the events that led us to be celebrating Christmas today is John 3:16. We have Christmas because of Jesus coming into the world to give us the gift of eternal life. For that reason, we have this special season to celebrate His birth. A celebration that we all have become so engrossed in, it’s even become a distraction to many of us. We have become so lost in the euphoria of the celebration with Christmas decorations, food, buying of gifts and so on, that the gift itself has lost its true meaning and the giver of the gift is forgotten. We have forgotten who we are celebrating, why we are celebrating, and why it is important to celebrate.
So let this year’s Christmas be a turning point, to shift our focus to the WHY we celebrate—JESUS. Let the reason why Jesus was born take the center stage of this Christmas season. Why don’t we show the world the why of Christmas? Again, as John 3:16 says:
‘For here is the way God loved the world—he gave his only, unique Son as a gift. So now everyone who believes in him will never perish but experience everlasting life.’
Let the world know this! Let the best gift you can give your family, friends and loved ones in this special season of giving be the gift of eternal life. Why not make this Christmas be about that? I don’t know if you have already done your Christmas gift shopping or if you are still in the process of getting all your gifts. Maybe I can tag along and be that shopping companion who whispers in your ear “how about giving the most important gift of all?”
This is a gift that tells someone about salvation; about Jesus. And it also shows someone the true reason why we Christians celebrate Christmas.
Why not even take it a step further and intentionally let your attitude and interactions in this season be a gift to someone? Let all the people around you experience a demonstration of what the gift of salvation is like!
There is no better time than now for the world to know and understand why Christmas is such a big deal to us Christians.
Say Hello Christmas to the world!
