Forgetting Christ At Christmas

I am embarrassed to admit that it is easy for me to forget Christ during the Christmas season.

It is easier to focus on my to-do list than on my Savior. There are presents to be bought and wrapped, Christmas cards to be addressed and mailed, baking and decorating, parties and activities.

And worse, sometimes I know my focus is out of balance and I still desire the meaningless and trivial. My flesh wants “happy” when I know God’s Spirit is leading me toward “holy.”

The thought comes to my mind…

If Satan can’t make me bad, he’ll make me busy.

Busyness means that my mind never “lands”–it just flits from event to event, from one responsibility to the next. When I have free time, I create things to do. I resist sitting still. I mask the emptiness with fun songs about silver bells and a white Christmas.

Why? Could it be that I am actually avoiding Christ? That I am looking for satisfaction in the lights, merriment and wonder of a season, rather than in the person of my Savior, Jesus Christ?

This quote from John Piper sums it up:

“If you don’t feel strong desires for the manifestation for the glory of God, it is not because you have drunk deeply and are satisfied.

It is because you have nibbled so long at the table of the world. Your soul is stuffed with small things, and there is no room for the great.”

(A Hunger for God)

If I do nothing else this season, I want to make sure that I:

1. Am in God’s word every day, especially when I am busy. (And I want to teach my children about Jesus every days as well.) And not just in God’s Word, but meditating and communing with God throughout my day. Conversing with Him. Celebrating for his glory.

Celebrating Christmas while forgetting the Savior is counter-productive and meaningless.

2. Desire the Giver more than the gifts that He graciously gives. God is good, and gives good gifts, but He wants me to love Him more than I love the gifts.

3. Guard my mind and be careful what I “ponder.”

Scripture teaches that “Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.” What I think about and meditate on exposes/directs my desires. What I spend my time doing exposes what I value. I tend to put time and effort into what’s important to me. I want to fill my mind with the truth of God’s Word.

So, pray for me, would you? That I would enjoy the season, and all the fun and good gifts that God gives, but that I would treasure Jesus Christ and make knowing Him the goal of this season.