Christmas Day, Every Day

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Or, day after Christmas :)

I hope that each and every one of you was able to enjoy the holiday simply because you are alive and well and God has shone mercy down upon you by giving you another day to live and breathe! Even if the day didn't turn out to be as "magical" as you would have hoped we always have something to celebrate.

That's actually where my post is going and it's a conviction I have in my own heart of treating Christmas day as something "special" when it's really not.

Waking up yesterday morning I was happy because:

1. It was 9am and I had been able to sleep in
2. It was my first day off in a while and the thought of no responsibility was exciting
3. It was Christmas day!

Now unfortunately, the child-like thrill of Christmas has kind of tapered as I've gotten older, but it's

still a great day and I love it. It's a day I know that I will get to spend with family, however it works out. And it was a good day, opening presents, hanging out for a while and heading over to my Aunt and Uncle's house for some family dinner and more hanging out. I love my family, we may not be as functional as I used to think we should be, but I love them all.

But there was an underlying thought throughout my day that I just couldn't shake and I actually woke up thinking about this morning. For most, Christmas is a holiday that is only significant because of the boost in the economy by the purchasing of gifts, and the ability to see family that you may not be able to see regularly. It also symbolizes the close of the year, with New Years following shortly behind to ring in another year of the same-old. But for some of us, Christmas day is something to celebrate for different reasons. For some of us, Christmas day is the day we celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. It symbolizes the day that God sent His son to be the payment for the sins of us who wouldn't be able to pay the price ourselves. Yes, even those who don't even realize and on other days would never say they agree with the gospel, celebrate and sing songs like "O Holy Night" and "O Come All Ye Faithful", and place nativity scenes in their houses or even in their yards. They'll attend their Christmas Eve services and hold candles and sing songs they know by heart but don't understand in their heart. Everyone can be Christian on Christmas.

But, fellow Christians, do we celebrate Christmas the day after? Today, December 26th, 2013, did you wake up with the same satisfaction and joy at the thought of Jesus Christ being born into the world to pay for your sins? Let's not be naive enough to think that December 25th is THE DAY Christ was born. With different calendars and misinformation, December 25th is most likely not the actual calendar day that Jesus was born, but it's the day we've designated as "Christmas Day". So why is December 25th so different? Now, disclaimer, if my words sounds passionate or harsh it's because I speak these to myself and I'm calling myself to make a change, but the question I found myself asking is this:

Why do I not wake up every morning as if it is Christmas day?

Christian, for us every day is Christmas day! Just because today is not December 25th, does it make it any less true that Christ was born, fully God, fully man, to earth through a virgin with the purpose of dying on a cross to cover my sin and yours all to the glory of the Father? Why is it on Christmas we'll talk around the table about the miraculous birth of the Christ and marvel and pray thanking God the Father for sending His Son, but the day after we need not talk about it. Does December 25th somehow make the story more entertaining, more amazing? Has it become the thought that we know December 25th will come again next year, so we'll save our amazement, our celebration of the God-man coming to earth for that day, but today I need to focus on me and what I have to do today and it's not Christmas so I don't need to celebrate it?

Sometimes I feel like that is how I think. I'm too busy, and it's not Christmas day, so I'll save those thoughts for later. Why don't I keep a nativity in my house all year round? What about the nativity is for Christmas day only?

"In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."

(1 John 4:9-10, ESV)

I've decided I want to wake up every day in the same frame of mind that I do on Christmas day. Today is the day I celebrate the coming of the Christ who died on the cross to fulfill the payment for my sins. Today is the day that I celebrate that Jesus was sent to earth, and that God chose to love us in the fact that He gave us the payment for our sins.

I think I'll try and look at it this way. Christmas day is a reminder, not just a single event, but it should be a day to come together and look back on a year full of gratefulness over the fact that I am a wretched sinner, and God deemed it fit to send His Son in my place and to pay the price, of which I could never pay.

Another disclaimer: I understand that there are people out there who treat Christmas this way, and I said before this post is mainly a reminder and  conviction of mine, so more than anything I'm saying this to myself.

I'm excited for tomorrow because it is another day that the truth stands: Christ was born on earth, to be a blessing for man. :)

Love Always,
Christina