1. When we stop to think and remember all of our Christmas traditions, what comes to mind for your family?
2. Do you remember a special childhood Christmas tradition that you currently do not observe, but you do remember that tradition?
According to a USA Today article, there are ten beloved traditions that are exclusive to the way that Americans celebrate the Christmas holiday. Seeing Santa Clause, decorating a Christmas tree, attending a church, gathering for a Christmas dinner, hanging a stocking, watching a Christmas movie, seeing Christmas lights and decorations, hiding the Christmas pickle (I have no idea), welcoming the Elf on the Shelf, and celebrating local and regional holiday traditions were highlighted in the article. I really wonder if my Christmas celebrations are so consumed with these traditions and observances that I have forgotten what the meaning of Christmas is by having so much fun and family time.
3. Do you remember why your family observes Christmas?
4. What is in your heart during these observances? What are we feeling, and do these feelings or thoughts push us toward observing the birth of Jesus Christ?
5. The first question was remembering a Christmas tradition, but the real question is, do we remember what the birth of Christ means for our spiritual lives, salvation, and eternity? What does it represent?
In Romans 15:15, the Apostle Paul reminds the Roman church, “But on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God.” Paul is reminding the church of their privileges and responsibilities. As I think of this verse in relation to our observances of Christmas, I wonder if our hearts grow cold to the true message and meaning of Christmas. I wonder if my observances are so consumed with fun and harmless traditions that my heart may have grown cold to the true meaning of Christmas.
6. If nine out of ten Americans relay that they celebrate Christmas, how are our celebrations different from their celebrations?
In the book of Jude, the writer describes with urgency that we as believers should be warned against false teachers who creep in and pervert the truths of situations or the truth of Scripture and deny the truth of who Jesus Christ is. Jude 1:3-4 reads, “Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” Then, in verse five, he says he wants to remind us of Jesus. This verse made me think and wonder.
7. Do you believe that you need to be reminded of Who Jesus is and what He did for us this Christmas?
Please look at Matthew 1:18-25, “Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel’ (which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.”
8. Is there any mention of your Christmas traditions that reference this account of the birth of Christ?
9. What is the importance of Immanuel in relation to our spiritual condition and salvation through Christ?
10. What does the birth of “God with us” or “he will save His people from their sins” mean? Do you believe that this gets discussed at Christmastime?
It is important to remember. We, as believers, need to remember what we are celebrating at Christmas. We need to help others remember what we are truly celebrating and what we are thankful for in our spiritual lives at Christmas. We have to realize that there are false teachers and false systems that want to turn our hearts away from the true meaning of Christmas and the sacrifice that Jesus made by humbling Himself to become human, which we celebrate at Christmas. Philippians 2:5-10 reads, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth.” This Christmas time, we should remember!