It's a Different Kind of Christmas This Year

From as far back as I can remember, I have loved the Christmas season.

The season for gift giving, ornate Christmas cards, carols, festive gatherings that include delectable homemade goodies and Wassail, and listening to my Bing Crosby Christmas CD while wrapping gifts.

As a little girl, I would lie awake on Christmas Eve, while visions of Easy-Bake Ovens and Mrs. Beasley dolls danced in my head and wonder if I would hear Santa and his reindeer when they arrived at our house.

My mom always tried to make Christmas extra special, even though we didn’t have a whole lot.

There were five of us kids, with eleven years between my oldest and youngest brothers.

One particular Christmas season when I was five years old stands out in my memory.

Mom was wrapping presents in a room behind a locked door while my two older brothers and I waited in anxious anticipation outside.

Every so often, the doorknob turned and she handed us wrapped gifts with our names on them to put under the tree.

Maybe I got my love for Christmas and everything it entails from my mom.

Can I be honest, though?

This Christmas season has been very different for me.

I wasn’t super excited when it was time to decorate my house.

It seemed more a burden than a blessing.

I have had to make myself shop, most of it being online.

I even had to make myself “get with it” and get much needed wrapping done the last two evenings.

The skip in my step from Christmas pasts is absent.

The seasonal smiles on people’s faces that I took for granted in the past are now covered up by masks or not there at all (you can usually tell by the eyes if a masked person is smiling at you).

I’m missing holiday hugs from loved ones (one of my love languages is physical touch).

There won’t be any large family gatherings this year so that we can do our part in keeping my 88-year-old mother-in-law and 80-year-old dad safe.

I’m not feeling sorry for myself; I’m just being transparent about how I’ve been feeling.

Unless you’ve been living inside a protective plastic bubble, it’s a different kind of Christmas for you, too.

With COVID-19, the political divisiveness, and the usual sadness that comes from living on a fallen planet, maybe you’re having a hard time, too.

Maybe you’ve lost a loved one to the virus, another sickness, or a tragic event.

Maybe you’ve lost a job.

Maybe just getting out of bed has been a chore for you.

My heart goes out to you if you are struggling.

If you are struggling and you are a Christian, there is great hope, though!

This world and its temporary circumstances are not all there is.

While this has definitely been a different kind of Christmas season for me, what I want for Christmas is not any different from what I wanted last Christmas and many Christmases before that.

What I want can’t be bought at a store, online, or with a gift card.

What I want more than anything is for everyone in this world to see the beautiful gospel and to personally experience the unconditional love of Christ.

I want them to understand why Christ came to this earth as a babe in a manger:

“When the right time came, God sent his Son who was born of a woman and lived under the law. God did this so he could buy freedom for those who were under the law and so we could become his children.”  (Galatians 4:4-5 NCV)

Before Jesus came, the whole world was separated from the Spirit (life) of God, enslaved to a list of do’s and don’ts (Galatians 4:3).

For Jews, it was 613 rules and regulations which included the Ten Commandments, ceremonial, and sacrificial laws.

For Gentiles (everyone else), it was the law of conscience—the law of right and wrong (Romans 2:14-15).

The only way anyone could be right with God (or so we thought) was through good behavior.

“You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout, I’m tellin’ you why” … comes to mind.

As a child growing up (after I became a Christian), I remember operating under the false assumption that if I tried really hard to be good, God would be happy with me.

But if I was bad, then He would be super disappointed in me.

So, then I would have to work really hard to get back into His good graces.

You know, the balance scales where the good works outweigh the bad.

It was all about me and what I was doing for God to keep Him happy with me.

Let’s get real.

Where is the good news in that?

That system puffs up those who think they are doing a pretty good job of keeping God happy, but completely discourages those who just can’t seem to get their act together.

The good news is that a works-weary world can now rejoice because Jesus came to change everything!

He came so that we could be made forever right with God through simple faith in Him, not through our self-righteousness. (For a big picture of faith-based righteousness, click here.)

It sounds super unfair that anyone could be made forever right with God simply by grace through faith in Jesus.

The thing is, grace will never be fair.

That’s why the Good News is so, so good!

Jesus died on a cross for the forgiveness of our sins and rose from the dead to give us new life in Him. (See 1 Corinthians 15:1-6.)

“God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son so that anyone who believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”   (John 3:16 TLB)

In celebrating the good news of the gospel of grace in Jesus Christ, I am not saying that godly attitudes and actions aren’t important.

It is a good thing to express godly attitudes and actions because God recreated us as holy, righteous new creations when we believed into His Son.

When believers in Christ are good, they are just being themselves.

That’s all God really wants for Christians: To learn (get their minds renewed with truth) who they already and forever are in His Son and to just be themselves (Romans 12:2; 2 Corinthians 5:17, 21).

I realize that it is unrealistic to think that everyone in this world will receive Christ (Who is the best gift ever), so I know I’m not going to get what I really want this Christmas.

But, if only one person believes in Jesus through reading this post, I would be over-the-top ecstatic!

Friend, have you believed this beautiful gospel?

If you have, and you long to experience transformation through getting your mind renewed with truth about who you already and forever are in Him, all of my books are filled with this wonderful message.

If you haven’t, what do you think is keeping you from believing it?

I would love to hear from you!

Just writing about the best news ever and thinking about the incredible hope we have as Christians is making me smile.

We are just passing through this world; it is not our permanent home.

This Christmas (and every day), let’s keep our eyes on the truth that we are already seated with Christ in Heaven and some day soon, we will be experiencing eternal joy on the New Earth in His presence and the presence of our loved ones in Christ!

That’s a lot to look forward to!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

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If you enjoyed this post, I invite you to check out all of my books and my video series based on my first devotional.