With the holiday falling at the end of our calendar, we naturally feel Christmas Eve and Christmas Day as a culmination. Yet Christmas was never meant to be the end. We live in a post-Christmas world, but we must never be “over” Christmas, and the dividing line it puts in history: a starting line and a new beginning.
The birth of Christ marks the beginning of a new life, and a new kind of life. It’s a life where peace is real, deep love is possible, and a fresh season can bring excitement and opportunity and joy—even in cold, dark winter.
THE TRUE LIGHT THAT GIVES LIGHT TO EVERYONE WAS COMING INTO THE WORLD. -JOHN 1:9
I CAME SO THEY CAN HAVE REAL AND ETERNAL LIFE, MORE AND BETTER LIFE THAN THEY EVER DREAMED OF. -JOHN 10:10
Jesus didn’t come so that we could have a one-day holiday—he came so we could have life. We celebrate his birth, we celebrate what God did for us—and then we honor him by going out and seeking and carrying that true light into his world.
As the world around us begins to take down its lights and return to its patterns and routines, we must choose to not return to life before Christmas. We must bring our light and its accompanying peace into our daily lives and to people who need its glow.
NOR DO PEOPLE LIGHT A LAMP AND PUT IT UNDER A BASKET—BUT ON A STAND, AND IT GIVES LIGHT TO ALL IN THE HOUSE. -MATTHEW 5:15
When have you felt close to God this Christmas season? What was going on in those moments? Whether it was a faint glimmer of God’s holy presence or an overwhelming encounter, a candlelight moment or a bright, beaming glow, use those experiences to light your way toward 2018. It’s only the decorations that go away after December.
