For many of us, the first of December kicks off a string of activities surrounding the season of Advent and the lead up to Christmas. Some of these things can even become routine as we participate in them year after year, but at our house, things are different this year.
In late August, we began a year-long term hosting a 16-year-old international student from China in our home. Since we lived in Beijing for much of 2016, our family has enjoyed showing him around Oregon and translating American culture for him, just as people did for us in China.
This is his first time experiencing Christmas. There is little or no cultural recognition of Christmas in China, and although this young man is a believer in Jesus, the celebration of Christmas is new for him. We enjoyed watching his face light up as we cut down a Christmas tree and decorated it in our living room, and we’ve had opportunities to explain the spiritual significance of Christmas traditions that sometimes get overlooked in our American culture at large.
I have to admit it’s been a long time since anyone has asked me WHY we give gifts at Christmas, or WHY we put white lights on our tree.
Years ago when our kids were young, I remember explaining the value of gift giving in recognition of the gift of salvation we have received, and the lights on the tree to help us remember that Jesus died on a tree so that our sins would be washed “white as snow.” However, as years have passed, it’s become possible for me to engage in these traditional Christmas activities without ever stopping to focus on the WHY. It has been a good wake up call to hear our student learn of these traditions and consider them thoughtfully. I had to ask myself, “When was the last time looking at our Christmas tree inspired me to stop and truly be thankful for the forgiveness and abundant life I enjoy in Jesus?”
I’m trying to keep my eyes open this year for the ways God is at work around me, and for the many ways I can refocus my heart on Jesus in the midst of all the Christmas “stuff” I see around me. While it’s true some in America celebrate the holidays without regard for spiritual things, there are a myriad of sights, sounds, and experiences which give us opportunity to encounter WHO Jesus is and WHY He came every day for the next 3-4 weeks.
Here are a couple verses that the Holy Spirit has been using to challenge me this past week to be alert and watchful in a spiritual sense:
“Make sure that you don’t get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God. The night is about over, dawn is about to break. Be up and awake to what God is doing! God is putting the finishing touches on the salvation work he began when we first believed. We can’t afford to waste a minute, must not squander these precious daylight hours in frivolity and indulgence, in sleeping around and dissipation, in bickering and grabbing everything in sight. Get out of bed and get dressed! Don’t loiter and linger, waiting until the very last minute. Dress yourselves in Christ, and be up and about!” Romans 13:11-14 MSG
I invite you to join me in asking the Holy Spirit to open our eyes to some new truths about Jesus this December.
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