Newsletter Article
Life After Christmas
This month we breathe a collective sigh of relief. The busyness of the holiday season is over! After weeks of planning, preparation, and celebration, we now return to a more "normal" pace and routine. Doesn’t "normal" sound good?
But, I’m afraid there’s nothing normal after Christmas! The birth of Jesus Christ does not end with the shepherds going back to the fields saying, "Okay, that’s done. Let’s go back to the way it used to be." No! Now that Jesus is born, everything’s changed! Nothing’s normal anymore. As with any arrival of a newborn, the birth is just the beginning.
And praise God it isn’t normal anymore! Normal in this world means sinful, imperfect, broken, separated from God. Normal in this world means sin, death, and the Devil reign supreme. Normal means selfishness, hopelessness, and loneliness are status quo. That’s normal. But, now that Jesus has been born, now that He has suffered and died in our place and risen again in victory, we rejoice that nothing’s normal anymore.
It’s normal to be sinful and under God’s wrath. But God’s Word says that because of Christmas and by faith in Jesus we are no longer normal, we are declared by God to be righteous and blameless in the sight of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says "God made Jesus who had no sins to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God."
It’s normal to live only for oneself, to do whatever I want to do no matter what God says and no matter the consequences. That lifestyle may sound like freedom, but it’s actually a slavery to sin. But God’s Word says that because of Christmas and by faith in Jesus we’re free—free to live not for ourselves but for Him who died for us and was raised again. (2 Corinthians 5:15)
It’s normal to live a life of discontent, always fretting about what I don’t have. But God’s Word says that because of Christmas and by faith in Jesus we’re thankful—thankful not only for earthly blessings, but for the chief blessing of a new life in Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"
So maybe getting back to "normal" doesn’t sound so great after all. Praise God that in Christ, nothing’s normal anymore!
One of my favorite quotes from the 2003 Christmas movie "Elf," is Buddy the Elf explaining that "the best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear." Very true! Of course, it helps if you sing something with a little more substance than "Grandma Got Run over by a Reindeer." Such as this verse from the Christmas hymn "It Came upon the Midnight Clear":
All you beneath your heavy load, By care and guilt bent low,
Who toil along a dreary way With painful steps and slow:
Look up, for golden is the hour, Come swiftly on the wing,
The Prince was born to bring you peace; Of Him the angels sing.
Yes, nothing’s normal anymore. Christ is born! Alleluia!
top