Keeping Christ at the Center of Your Holiday Spirit
The holiday season of Christmas and New Years is one of the highlights of the year. Not only are we serenaded with Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You whenever we go shopping, we also get to see beloved friends and family that we have not seen in months or years. But this joyful season can also distract us from keeping Christ at the center of our holiday spirit. Here are different ways in which we can better serve Jesus as we celebrate the holidays.
Remember why Jesus needed to come to earth
The birth of Jesus was a wonderful event in the history of humanity and it is worth celebrating and remembering. But it is easy to neglect to ponder why Jesus needed to be born on earth in the first place. As Romans 3:23 reminds us, we are all guilty of sins. And since we cannot save ourselves from our sins, we need a perfect sacrifice for our sins.
In one of the greatest acts of humility, Jesus came to live on earth as a human and was born in a manger that likely reeked of smelly animals. Such birthing conditions are hardly appropriate for a King, and yet that was exactly the kind of lowly circumstances that Jesus was willingly born in. Humility marked the beginning of His perfect live on earth.
As we celebrate Christmas, let us remember to be humble and to be thankful that Jesus was willing to come to earth to eventually sacrifice Himself on the cross for our sins. Remembering His birth is great cause for joy, and let us also remember to share that kind of Christ-centered joy with others.
Start building a habit to bless other people
The holiday seasons are often filled with much joy, but it can also be a challenging time for those who are suffering. It is common for churches and organizations to offer different seasonal opportunities to reach out to the lost and hopeless. Events like Operation Christmas Child can be a significant blessing to children and families during Christmas, and people often donate food and clothing to the poor and needy.
But when Christmas and New Year’s is over and we go back to our regular busy lives, the holiday joys fade away from our minds and the stresses of life burden our hearts, distracting us from the potential to keep giving joy and hope to others.
Participating in annual acts of service are always a good thing to do around Christmas, but we should remember to keep serving others after Christmas. Kingdom work does not start and stop around Christmas time. There are a lot of lost, hopeless, and hurting people throughout the world. They need love. They need help. They need the kind of soul-satisfying hope that only Jesus can provide.
We need faithful laborers to continue to serve the lost and hopeless throughout the year. If you do not typically participate in various outreach opportunities, consider looking for a way to serve others this Christmas season and for the following year. Even small acts of service can leave a lasting impact on someone who needs Jesus.
Set New Years resolutions that revolves around Christ
It is very common for people to make New Years resolutions for themselves, such as going to the gym more often and eating healthier. Earlier this year, Forbes released the results of a survey about what types of New Years resolutions people were making for 2024. The top five most common resolutions are to: “improve fitness”, “improve finances”, “improve mental health”, “lose weight”, and “improve diet”.
Those are good goals to have. There is nothing inherently sinful about them, and I would never discourage someone from making progress in goals like that. But there is one common element about most of the resolutions that Forbes listed: most of them are centered around what an individual person hopes to accomplish for themselves.
I think we, as Christians, ought to be careful about the main focus behind our resolutions. Though it has been quite some time since I last wrote any resolutions for the upcoming new year, I know that my first instinct would be to write down goals that would either improve myself or glorify myself. And thinking about past resolutions that I have written, they were always about what I wanted to do and not necessarily what Jesus would want me to do.
When being asked what is the great commandment of the law in Matthew 22:36-40, Jesus responded with two main points of application: to love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself. Later, in Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus instructed us to make disciples of all nations. And in 1 Peter 4:8-10, Peter tells us to love one another earnestly, to show hospitality to others, and to serve others with our gifts. If you are planning on making New Years resolutions for yourself, consider making goals to be a better servant to Jesus and to other people along with other goals like going to the gym. We often neglect our spiritual well-being, as well as the spiritual well-being of others, when setting resolutions. But if we prioritize growing in our walk with Christ, we will set ourselves up for a far more fulfilling 2024.