Meaning

Tho other day I heard someone say that they had just witnessed true Christmas Spirit; the true meaning of what Christmas is all about.

There were some grown ups shopping for their families, it had been snowing all day and it was difficult to get around, the economy is in a mess and as they came out of the store one guy stopped, looked at the others, made a snow ball and threw it at one of the other shoppers. He didn't even know them, so the story teller decided that grown ups having fun and being able to forget all the craziness them for the moment is what Christmas is all about.

As I listened to this story and his thoughts of "true meaning", I was sad. Satan has done a masterful job of getting our hearts and minds attached to things that are so small.

So what is Christmas really about?

Christmas is love; John 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. The love of a friend who would be willing to die for us. The love of a Father willing to give His only Son for us.

Christmas is Giving; Giving of ourselves for others, even in the form of being a servant. Phil.2 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Christmas is about lights; not some lights, but The Light. John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God."

So in our giving and receiving, our loving and serving, our family and friendships and our truth-seeking, God has given us the ultimate Gift -Himself- so we can have a relationship with Him. What a Precious Promise He has given us.

Precious Promise
Steven Curtis Chapman
Oh what a precious promise,
Oh what a gift of love;
An angel tells a virgin that
She's gonna have a son.
And though it's a precious promise,
She wonders how can this be;
What will the people say
And what if Joseph can't believe.
And her questions and her fears
Are met with an overwhelming joy
That God has chosen her.
Oh what a precious promise;
Mary waits as heaven comes to earth.

Oh what a precious promise,
Oh what a gift of love;
Joseph makes his choice to do
What few men would have done:
To take Mary as his bride,
When she's already carrying a child
That isn't his own.
Oh what a precious promise;
Mary and the child will have a home.

And shepherds stand on a hillside,
Their hearts racing with the news the angel told them;
A star's light fills up the dark sky,
As the night of precious promise is unfolding.

Oh what a precious promise,
Oh what a gift of love;
The waiting now is over and
The time has finally come.
For the God who made this world
To roll back the curtain
And unveil His passion for the heart of man.
Oh what a precious promise,
Lying in a manger in Bethlehem.
Oh what a precious promise,
Lying in a manger in Bethlehem

EMANUEL, GOD IS WITH US!!!!