“The Most Wonderful Time of Year…Really?”
John Jackson, President
December 25, 2023
The song says Christmas is the most wonderful time of year. And for many, it is. But for others, Christmas is a very challenging season based on the losses and pains they have experienced during and over the years.
So, is Christmas really the most wonderful time of year or is it just a date on the calendar? I want to contend for you that this DAY and this SEASON are indeed glorious and wonderful. I’m not sure where you are when you are reading this, but I want you to know that God always shows up at just the right time and when we need Him most. Here are two Scriptures that teach what I just wrote:
“But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.”
Galatians 4:4-5
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:6-8
But maybe you wonder if those verses are really true. Maybe you have had a terrible loss, or are suffering a tragic relational breakdown and you are wondering where God is or was during your moments of deepest pain? I’m telling you, based on the authority of Scripture, that Jesus was, and is, right next to you at all times. How do I know this? I know this because that is the fundamental message of Christmas and why it is the most wonderful time of year.
Christmas is the message that God is not distant or unkind. Christmas is the message that God is not unloving. God is loving, kind, present, and longs to be present with us on the journey of life. There is no promise in Scripture that life will not have pain and loss. But there is a promise in Scripture that God is our Comforter and that His comfort is ours to receive and to share (2 Corinthians 1:3-7).
Christmas is also the message that God is our Savior and not our condemner. Christmas is the message that God longs for us to be forgiven and free instead of bound and hopeless. John 3:16-17 proclaims to us that God’s intent is for our salvation and not our imprisonment. That first Christmas gift was the best ever. And every time we gift the gift of our love and kindness to another, we are mimicking, in a small way, the love of our Savior.
Christmas is the most wonderful time of year. And regardless of whether you are at the pinnacle of life today or in a pit of pain, I want you to know that you are deeply and profoundly loved by a good and perfect God who demonstrated His love for you that first Christmas and every Christmas since by having Jesus come to Earth as a little baby. Merry Christmas!
