Spreading Christmas

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

Bible Verse for Today

“A voice cries: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.’”

Isaiah 40:3

Devotion for Today

Spreading Christmas

Have you ever known something important that someone else didn’t know? Something you were excited about? Maybe it’s that there was going to be a Christmas party, or someone special was coming for a visit, and you couldn’t help but spread the word? Your excitement about what was about to come just bubbled out of you and you couldn’t contain it?

That’s what I think about when I think of John the Baptist. He knew Christmas was coming, and he didn’t want the people to miss it. So, he went into the desert and preached the good news, baptizing and heralding the coming Christ.

John knew that Jesus had already been born. He wasn’t heralding the first Christmas, but the continued Christmas. Jesus had been born, but His ministry was yet to begin. He said, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.”[1]

John’s message was so powerful that he didn’t have to go find people to share his news with, they came to him. He went out into the desert, out into the barren land and just started sharing the news. The people who heard, left and went to tell their friends. I don’t know if he was a super amazing speaker, but he certainly had a powerful message, Christmas was coming.

John’s whole purpose in life was to point to Jesus. And that’s our purpose, too. Yet that’s a purpose I fail at each and every day, whether it’s the Christmas season or not.

The thing about Christmas is that while we celebrate it just once a year, it came once but it lasts forever. Jesus was born, and that’s something we can celebrate for all eternity. Because Jesus changed everything. Because of Jesus we have been reunited with the God who made us. We don’t have to worry about being good enough, because Jesus came to rescue us.

He is our knight in shining armor, only instead of riding on a white horse, He came in a manger.

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In the beginning there was just God. He has always been and will always be, but He wanted to create something beautiful. He wanted to create someone He could love. Thus, He created the Heavens and the Earth and all the stars in the sky. He created the plants and the animals, and then He created mankind in His image. He created us to reflect His glory and to have a relationship with Him.

God placed the man and woman He created in a garden and spent time with them each day. Walking and talking with them.[2] But the man He so lovingly crafted in His image rejected Him.[3] That rejection separated us from God. Yet, God didn’t give up on us. He told them of the day when He would come again, this time born of human flesh to rescue mankind from their sin… redeem them. Christmas was foretold from the very beginning.

And then one night, while the whole world slept, Christmas was born in a manger. It was announced by angels to shepherds in a nearby field. Magi who figured out how to interpret the scrolls and signs travelled from afar to come see the newborn King. Christmas had come, and it changed everything. Yet, it changed nothing.

Life went on, much as it had, but the good news is, our lives today are forever changed by that first Christmas so long ago and the events that followed. Jesus came to rescue us from our sins. He lived a perfect life, because we never could, and then He died a sinner’s death. A death He didn’t deserve. Taking all our sins upon Himself. 

That’s the good news of Christmas. Not just that Jesus was born, but that He lived and died for us, and that He rose again. He is alive today and He makes His home in our hearts. He wants to have a relationship with each and every one of us. If you accept Jesus as your Savior, your sins are covered by His blood and there is no longer any condemnation for you. We can stand forgiven at the manger and the cross.

This is the good news of Christmas: not just that Jesus was born, but that He lived and died for us, and that He rose again. Share on X

[1] Mark 1:7

[2] Genesis 3:8

[3] Genesis 3