To me, Christmas has always been a paramount holiday.
I vividly remember the first time my family’s Christmas traditions were altered. I was around the age of 12 or 13, and when my older brothers left in the afternoon to see their friends or their girl friends, I remember thinking, “but this is family time. you can’t leave during family time”. This harsh feeling of change came abruptly and in a sly manner, yet it was just the first sign of many changes to come. Soon after that, my brothers both went off to college and our home felt confined, quiet, and empty during the Christmas season. Also, I became fully aware that the last thing they wanted to do on their break after a difficult semester was hang out with their teenage sister and the rest of their ‘lame family’. I’ve always been a sentimental person, if you couldn’t tell, so this realization really shook me up. How could they NOT want to take part in all of our old-time traditions? Well, from this first occurrence, the air of excitement continued to let out more and more each year.
All of this change brought us here—to Christmas 2014. Let me quickly catch you up to speed: Andrew has been in the real world for almost two years now, Daniel graduated from college a year ago and just got married five days ago (making Michelle my sister, eeeeek), Christina just graduated from Georgia Tech and lives downtown, I am a sophomore in college frighteningly contemplating nearing the cliff that leads to the valley of adulthood, David is a senior in high school with a devil-may-care attitude about the remainder of his high school education, and Brooke and Brandon are keepin’ it real as sophomores in high school. Whether we like it or not, our lives are moving forward like a freight train with a fervor of haste. By no means are we “old”, but we certainly are not of age to wake up at 7 am on the 25th exclaiming, SANTA CAME! SANTA CAME! The reality is that we have grown up and most of the Collins kids are closer to parenthood and gift coordinating in December than to wish list making and waking up mom and dad to open stalkings at the crack of dawn.
Santa, lavish toys, tantrums, and other childhood activities that come with the season have passed in our home, yet one thing remains and does not rely on a feeling of ‘spirit’ or age. That one thing is the story of our Savior coming down to earth—the beginning of the larger story of humility and redemption.
Essentially, my feelings and emotions about each Christmas—whether positive or negative—can never remove the truth of what the actual day stands for. Today, years ago, a child was born, and this child wasn’t just going to join the world, this child was going to save the world. You see, here, today, the 25th of December, 2014, we celebrate the fact that thousands of years ago, God fulfilled the prophecies of the old testament by beginning his plan for redemption in a manger. So today, we shouldn’t just open presents, be merry while spending time with family and friends, and say a quick thank you for a baby being born. We should be floored with thankfulness for the baby that was born because that same baby would go on to sacrifice his perfect life for his very imperfect people.
Modern culture—myself included—has a way of completely separating Christmas and Easter while thoroughly commercializing them in the process, but today I thought that I’d fight to remember the bigger picture. Christmas is celebrated because it signifies the coming of a humble savior. Christ could not have died on a cross to cover a multitude of sins if he wasn’t born in an unassuming manger years before; the story of Christmas is integral to the story of salvation.
That’s the bigger picture.
And it’s simply why Christmas was celebrated in the first place. It’s weighty; it’s valuable. It lends itself to a much larger story—the story of the Gospel.
If the Lord has taught me one thing over the course of my 20 years of life, it is that zooming out to see the bigger picture lends perspective and understanding as to why God may be doing what he’s doing. After all, he is all-powerful, all-knowing, and omnipresent. He doesn’t mess up and doesn’t waste time because that is his character. Thus, choosing to zoom out allows believers to be reminded of those very characteristics of God. It reminds us that he has a plan and a far vaster perspective from us. He knew at the birth of Christ that his death was in store for the world, and he knows today that whatever you are going through right now has an ultimate purpose, too.
Today, seek to zoom out. His sovereign hand is holding you.
And this Christmas, remember that when you don’t feel the “spirit” or the “magic”, the truth of the nativity story still rings true. Value this, cling to it. Give him the praise and honor he deserves because he gave you the greatest gift of all; he gave you redemption through that tiny child in a manger.
"Mild He lays His glory by,
Born that man no more may die.”
What a powerful statement that is embedded in such a classic carol. The ties of the Christmas story and the Easter story are everywhere. Look for them.
Take a gander through Isaiah 53. It lays out God’s plan for what would come from the Christmas story long before Christ even came down. What an incredible, amazing God we serve.
"Who has believed what he has heard from us?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men;
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men;
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
and as for his generation, who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people?
9 And they made his grave with the wicked
and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.
yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
and as for his generation, who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people?
9 And they made his grave with the wicked
and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
make many to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because he poured out his soul to death
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
and makes intercession for the transgressors.”
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
make many to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because he poured out his soul to death
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
and makes intercession for the transgressors.”
-Isaiah 53:1-12
He is an intentional God who fulfills the plans that he makes for his glory. Find peace in that this Christmas.
Merry Christmas, folks!
