I’m afraid a lot of people will miss Christmas this year, even though they’re busy shopping, cooking, preparing, enjoying parties and going to church events. In the midst of all the advertising and all the hype, the point of Christmas too often gets lost for many of us.
Here are three ways you can miss the point of Christmas.
1. You miss the point of Christmas if you think it is receiving.
Receiving is a major part of the excitement of Christmas. Children all over America can’t wait to see what’s under the tree for them. Even adults are not above getting excited when they expect a special gift, and very few people don’t enjoy unwrapping a present.
There is nothing wrong with the anticipation of receiving Christmas gifts, but receiving gifts is not the most important part of Christmas … even though it is easy to get carried away with the thought of getting stuff.
2. You miss the point of Christmas if you think it is giving.
For adults, the opportunity to give is likely the biggest turn on of Christmas. The look of delight in the eyes of someone who just got what they “always wanted” gives the giver rich pleasure. When the gift you give is right, it gives at least as much pleasure to the giver as it does the receiver.
Giving can also be the biggest pain. Shopping is often hectic, less than fun, and sometimes the bill for Christmas gifts destroys the family budget for the entire year. Also, giving loses its allure when you feel obligated to give a gift to somebody you don’t really know or like very much (i.e. cousin Martha’s fourth husband, or the aunt who spends more on her shoes than you do on your rent).
The traditions of giving and receiving have their roots in the Christmas story. They reflect the gifts the wise men gave and, of course, God’s gift of His Son to all mankind, but these traditions are not the point of Christmas.
3. You miss the point of Christmas if you think it is family.
The classic mental picture of the perfect Christmas is the perfect family in their perfect floor length robes worn over their clean and pressed pajamas with their hair perfectly in place, in the perfect living room, with their perfect tree with a perfect fire in their fireplace drinking perfect coffee and hot chocolate and neatly unwrapping their perfectly wrapped packages while it gently snows perfectly big flakes outside the perfect landscape window.
However, most of us don’t have families exactly like that. Some of us don’t have family at all. Others are separated from their families by physical or emotional distance.
For these people, the joyous Christmas season is a stressful, even depressing time. That is not what God intended. Obviously, happy times for families are good, but the angel said the good news was for all the people. The point of Christmas is for the unattached as much as it is for the dream family.
