It’s that time of year when we pull out our greenery and decorations, gather to sing carols and exchange gifts, and enjoy far too many homemade sweets. These things populate the season, bringing joy and laughter to everyone, but we all know they are not the true reason for our celebrations. We celebrate because this is the time that Christ came to earth to save us.
But why do we need a Savior?
It can be easy to immediately answer this with something along the lines of, “We need a Savior to save us from our sins.” This statement is unarguably true. However, it can also be incredibly easy to gloss over. Why do we need saving from our sins? How is Jesus’ coming truly good news for us in our day-to-day lives? How does the Savior’s coming impact us? These are all essential questions to think about, and that’s what we’re going to dive into today.
Why do we NEED Christmas?
Separation from God.
Without Christ, we are eternally separated from God. What does this mean? When we are with God, we experience all of who He is—His goodness, His grandness, His majesty, His holiness. When we are walking hand in hand with Him, being directed by His good and holy hand, we experience justice, righteousness, goodness, the miraculous, and more. Our lives are full of abundance and beauty. God resolves all of our issues and He guides us into the most beautiful life we could imagine.
So why do we not experience that now? Sin is the short answer. Sin is the choice to follow our own flesh (our own logic, our own desires, etc.) rather than to follow God. When we sin, we walk away from God and we cannot be restored to Him. God is perfectly holy, and when we choose our own way, we become unholy, and so cannot be with Him. Since each of us is born with a sin nature (as a result of the original sin in Genesis 3), we are now born apart from God. We cannot experience all that He has for us.
But this is not God’s desire for us. God desperately wants to be with us, to walk with us and restore us. He desires that we join Him in building His kingdom, where we can be transformed and blessed. He wants us to take our designed place next to Him, and become His children. He wants us to live a life of shalom—a full and complete life where every aspect is spectacular.
But God cannot give us all of this so long as our sinful nature remains. With all His heart He desires to, but He can’t. His is holy and we are not. We are not righteous, and so we cannot be with God. Our sinful natures draw us to continually choose to walk further away from Him.
Christ brings restoration.
In order to be with us and give us the incredible life He offers, God needed a plan. On our own, we are stuck in a cycle of death and curse. Our lives are filled with disease, poverty, oppression, evil, stress, fear, shame, and guilt. We are far from the God who loves us and desires to help us.
So what did God do? He sent Jesus, God incarnate, to come and save us. We had incurred a debt. Our sin was too great for us to do anything to overcome it and restore ourselves back to God. Jesus, the perfect sacrifice, died to pay our debt so that we can be restored. This restoration is a complete restoration. Not only are we freed from the penalty of death, we now get to experience God in our daily lives—His love, His joy, His provision, His righteousness, everything that makes life good! Christ came to bring His kingdom to earth. We are able to live in His kingdom, experiencing the supernatural joy, peace, and righteousness that comes with that, and living with the King each day of our lives. When we live with the King, He restores every facet of our lives. He mends every broken relationship, fixes every mistake, and guides us into the beautiful life He has planned for us. God is the God of restoration. We may have screwed up to the point of no return, but God is greater than that. With God, we are never too far gone. He can and desires to restore each of us and to be with each of us personally.
Christmas: the ultimate celebration!
This is why Jesus came—to restore us completely back to the Father. And that is spectacular news! With His arrival, we are now able to experience everything God offers to us. So why do we celebrate Christmas? Christmas is the day God became incarnate. He came to be with us so that we could be with Him. Without Him, we would never experience His incredible provision, supernatural protection, and unbelievable goodness. With His arrival, He opened the door for us to be with Him and experience all of those things, plus an intimate relationship with Him. But He leaves us the choice. We choose whether or not we want to be with Him. The door is open to you, Christ has come… do you choose to be with Him?
If you do, this time of year will forever be a time of immense celebration. Christmas is a time to rejoice! Our King has come to be with us and to grant us everlasting, abundant life. Hallelujah!
