Simply Christmas

Prepare your heart for the holidays in this devotion with Heather Hart.

Bible Verse for Today

“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

Luke 2:11

Devotion for Today

Simply Christmas

Every Christmas Eve my family and I settle down in front of the television to watch The Nativity Story and eat finger foods. It’s probably my favorite Christmas tradition because it’s so simple. We lay out chips and dip, pickles, carrots, Lil’ Smokies, and whatever else is easy to eat and just help ourselves.

There’s something to be said about the simplicity of Christmas. It comes and goes every year, regardless of what we do. We can’t make it come any faster or go any slower. Yet somehow, we always seem to make it complicated, don’t we? We stress over the menu and gifts, the parties and pies. And in all our to do’s we miss the simplicity of it all.

Jesus came. He was born in a barn, nothing fancy, just a manger. There were no decorations put up, no feast prepared. The new parents didn’t paint a nursery. Yet no lack of preparation could stop the coming Christ. In God’s perfect time, Jesus was born. He was swaddled in cloth and slept in the hay.

Why do we think each Christmas must outshine the last? Why do we think our Christmases must be bigger and better and grander and greater? If a barn was clean enough for the Savior of the world, why isn’t my home clean enough for me?

Every Christmas I strive for perfection, forgetting that we have Christmas because perfection is out of our reach.  I look at the holiday and struggle with all that I’m not, instead of remembering all that He is. That’s the simplicity of Christmas. It’s not found in ribbons and bows or even a simple holiday meal. The simplicity of Christmas is simply Jesus.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son…”[1] and “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”[2] It’s as simple as that.

So yes, Christmas is coming. It’s coming just like it does every year with no regard to how ready we are or how much we have invested, because that’s not what Christmas is about. Christmas is about the coming Christ. That’s it. And this year, I’m resolved to keep my focus on Him.

Christmas isn't found in ribbons and bows or even a holiday meal. The simplicity of Christmas is simply Jesus. Share on X

[1] John 3:16

[2] Romans 10:9

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