Have you ever reached the end of December and felt like you missed the true meaning of Christmas? This year, plan ahead with four steps to make Jesus the meaning of your Christmas season.
Christmas Stress
I flopped down on my bed a few hours before dawn on Christmas. My heart drummed in my chest like I had just run a marathon. In a way, I had run a marathon—a race through the month of December to Christmas. I made the finish line. Barely.
A long line of hurdles I had jumped paraded through my mind. I had managed to cross every one. Decorating the house. Setting up an outdoor light show. Playing Christmas carols on the piano. Baking Christmas cookies. Making gifts for the neighbors. Hosting a birthday party for Jesus. Visiting family. Buying and wrapping presents. Watching Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker ballet. Christmas book read-alouds with my kids. A boatload of crafts. A homeschool Christmas around the world. An open house. And there’s more—far more than I care to admit.
Funny thing—during this holiday called CHRISTmas. Jesus, the reason for the season, sat as a spectator of the race I had laid out.
As my breathing and heart returned to normal, I vowed, “Never again.” Something had to change.
Advent with Jesus
During Advent, the month before Christmas, we should prepare our hearts to celebrate Jesus’ birth. But I had been busy preparing my house and homeschool activities.
Perhaps you, like me, have found that the Christmas season rushes by without any meaningful time spent with Jesus. The joy of Christmas fades without Him.
God sent John the Baptist to His people before Jesus began His ministry on earth. John helped them, and us, to anticipate, prepare, clear the way, and receive Jesus.
4 Steps to Make Jesus the Meaning of Your Christmas Season
Let’s consider the following suggestions to make Jesus the meaning of our Christmas season this year and restore the joy of Christmas to our lives.
- Anticipate Jesus. Anticipation is a delicious state of waiting for something we want or need. These activities help us to pause and linger in the feeling that something wonderful is just ahead.
- Make a family plan for the holiday season. Brainstorm and list on paper all input from members of the family. Then cross out the activities that won’t help you focus on Jesus and reconsider choices that detract from balanced, healthy living. Remember, you need not exclude every symbol and tradition of Christmas. When we consider their history and meaning, they can remind us of His praiseworthy attributes. Write your plan on a calendar so everyone can anticipate the coming celebration.
- Think about the promises found in the Bible about Jesus. The Old Testament gives hundreds of prophecies about the coming Messiah that were fulfilled as Jesus lived on earth. Today, we continue to anticipate some unfulfilled prophecies, such as His second coming. If you’re unsure where to find Bible promises about Jesus, start searching in the book of Isaiah. The prophet described people living without access to the Savior as “poor,” “brokenhearted,” “captives,” and “prisoners” (61:1 NLT). He also characterized them as walking in “deep darkness” (9:2 NLT). Think about the feelings, doubts, hopes, and expectations you might have while living in such conditions without access to a Savior. Then read how the coming Messiah would rescue them and provide for all their needs. Meditate on the promises of God and thank Him for fulfilling them in your life through Jesus.
- Journal any growth or expectations you’re anticipating in your relationship with Jesus. Your list may include how you hope He meets with you during the Christmas season, or you may write about long-term desires to know Him better.
- Prepare for Jesus. We often focus on cleaning and decorating our homes during the Christmas season so people who visit will be comfortable. How do we prepare for a VIP—the most important Person—to come to us? We want our hearts to be a fitting place for King Jesus to live. Paradoxically, we don’t need to do the cleansing, because only He can wash away our sins. But we do have a responsibility. John the Baptist said, “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near” (Matthew 3:2 NLT).
- Journal any conviction you may feel about sin. Sit with God in prayer and ask Him to search your heart. Like the psalmist, ask God to “point out anything in me that offends [God], and lead me along the path of everlasting life” (Psalm 139:24 NLT). If He brings a sin to mind, commit to turn away from it. Give thanks for Jesus’ cleansing blood that overcomes your sin.
- Clear the Way for Jesus. As I found, I can easily fill my life with my belongings, my activities, and my own agenda. Notice a common theme? “My.” This condition happens when I wake up each morning thinking of what I want. Advent is a great time to reject self-centered thinking that stresses our lives with roadblocks to obedience to God’s will.
- Pray for God to reveal any area where your desires have superseded His will. Make a note of these problems and ask God to show you a better way.
- Change the focus of your Christmas traditions to make Jesus the reason you celebrate. We have a choice. Our activities can dominate our attention, or they can become a lens through which we focus on Jesus. In my book, 25 Symbols of Christmas: Finding Jesus, I show how making homemade candy can remind us to taste the sweetness of God’s wisdom. Building a gingerbread house with our children becomes an opportunity to talk about Jesus as our firm foundation. Giving a candy cane with a card about its design points others to Jesus, our Savior.
- Journal what God is clearing out of your life so you can live a balanced and healthy lifestyle according to His will.
- Receive the Gift of Jesus. “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16 NLT). Jesus’ birth and life are God’s gift to us. We choose to receive His gift—to unwrap and make Jesus the center of our lives.
- Surrender to Jesus as your Lord and Savior. If you’re not sure you’ve ever taken this step, Advent is the perfect time to receive the gift of Jesus. Start by humbly admitting to God you need a Savior and choose to turn away from your sins and look to Him. Believe Jesus Christ is God’s Son, He died for your sins, and God raised Him to life after His death on a cross. Finally, surrender your life—your will and your ways—to God’s will and God’s ways. He becomes your Lord.
- Choose to daily accept Jesus’ presence in every facet of your life. When we invite Jesus to control every thought, feeling, activity, and decision, the light of His glory shines for others to see. His presence in us prompts people to receive His goodness for themselves.
- Journal your daily commitment to receive Jesus. Perhaps post note cards at strategic places in your home or at work to remind you Jesus is always with you.
The Meaning of Christmas
Since that Christmas marathon years ago that almost did me in, I changed my ways. I put Jesus in His rightful place as the meaning of my family’s Christmas season. Now, instead of distracting us from Jesus, the symbols and traditions we choose to include in our holiday season draw attention to Him as the star of Christmas.
How will you make Jesus the true meaning of your Christmas celebration this year?
Author Bio:
Annie Yorty writes and speaks to encourage others to perceive God’s presence in the unexpected twists and turns of life. She has written From Ignorance to Bliss: God’s Heart Revealed through Down Syndrome: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1649498365/ref and a devotional, 25 Symbols of Christmas: Finding Jesus: https://www.amazon.com/25-Symbols-Christmas-Jesus-Devotional/dp/B0DJWB65C6/ref=. Check out her YouTube Channel with bonus videos for Christmas: https://www.youtube.com/@annieyorty1014. Please connect with her at AnnieYorty.com, Facebook, and Instagram.