When we come to the Christmas season, we are met with many things to do.  Our lives tend to immediately get busy and hurried in the midst of all the presents, parties, and others things that make this season so loved by many.  But before we get lost in the craziness of the season, let us take a look back to the beginnings of this holiday.

 The Gospel of John begins with a great picture of Christmas.  He gives this picture of Jesus (who he calls the Word) being the Creator, Sustainer, and Giver of life.  He shows us a great and powerful God, and then he says “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1: 14a ESV).  This is the center of what Christmas is all about.  The Creator of the world, the Author of life, the Originator of all beauty, and the Sustainer of all came down into our world.  This loving God was willing to come down into our world which is scarred with the pains of grief, crying out with hurts, and full of sin and corruption.  The holy God of the universe stepped down into our pain and world to redeem us from it.  He came from His home in Glory to make a way through His own suffering and death to bring us to Glory and to restore fellowship with us.

This Redeemer, however, did not come on the scene as many would expect.  The lightning did not flash, the earth did not shake, and the angels did not belt out a joyful noise.  No, the God of the universe came as a baby, and He was “wrapped in swaddling clothes, and laid in a manger, because there was no room in the inn” (Luke 2: 7b ESV).  God comes on the scene and is given no kingly treatment.  The God of the universe should have at least been given a room in the inn, but instead he is born in an animal food trough.  Jesus Christ comes to redeem His people and everyone seems to miss it.  The writer of John says it this way: “The true light which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.  He was in the world and the world was made through Him, yet the world did not know Him.  He came to His own and His own people did not receive Him” (John 1: 9-11 ESV).  He came to bring light into the darkness of our world, and we missed Him.

This Christmas in the midst of all our trees, Santas, gifts, families, Christmas parties, and dinners will we miss Jesus?  It is very easy during the busy holiday season for us to forget what is important.  Jesus wants a relationship with you this Christmas season.  He wants to spend some time with you this Christmas.  The question is “Will you be like the wisemen and shepherds and seek Him, or will you miss Jesus this Christmas?”

“God’s respect to the creature’s good, His respect to Himself, is not a divided respect; but both are united in one, as the happiness of the creature aimed at is happiness in union with Himself.”                                                                                 -

 Jonathan Edwards in The End for which God Created the World

We are all on a search for happiness and fulfillment at some level.  There is a void down deep inside each of us that we are seeking to fill.  There are many different ways that we can seek to fill that void including relationships, drugs, popularity, and achievement.  The thing that God keeps bringing me back to is the fact that my true happiness can only be found in my relationship with Him.  St. Augustine said it best in stating that “Thou madest us for thyself, and our heart is restless until it rests in Thee.”  The Jonathan Edwards quote above speaks to the same idea that all of our true happiness is found in union with God.  This is something that seems so elementary and easy to understand, yet it is very hard to live.  It is so hard for me to escape from all of the television , internet and all of the other things around me to spend time pursuing my relationship with Jesus in which all of my true happiness is found.  I tend to forfeit happiness and joy in God for the temporary pleasures of something that will never in the end satisfy.