The Real Meaning of Christmas

 

 

Christmas is more than ham and turkey

It’s more than bake pork and jug-jug,

It’s more than lights of every sort

Or more than a new carpet or rug.

It’s more than a new coat of paint

Or some new outfit for Christmas morn,

Christmas is more than the shiny new toys

Or gifts whatever the shape and form.

Christmas is more than the drive around

To gaze at the multitude of assorted lights

That brightens our many round-o-bouts

With a display of colour through the night.

It is more than that smile of delight

Expressed on the face of the recipient

Of a warm handshake or a hug

Or some other form of loving intent.

Yes it is all of these but even more

Than gathering around the family table,

It is far more than assembling on the patio

To enjoy Christmas folklore and fable.

 

 

 

It is more than the exchange of gifts

Or the expression of the season’s greetings,

It is more than the quaint saying I love you

For all of these are particularly fleeting.

It is more than the expression of cheer

Displayed by parents of a new born babe,

Even though that wonderful God sent infant

Was born on that Christmas day.

It is more than the childlike expectation

That fills one’s heart on Christmas Eve

As one urges forward the time

So that another Christmas could be achieved.

It is more than the many Christmas carols

Reminding us of the Christ child’s birth

Even more than the early morning service

And the refrain of peace to men on earth.

So what is the real meaning of Christmas?

Could there be something more?

What more can be said than in the verse before

About the birth of Christ in the days of yore?

Christmas is more than a touching story

Even the story of Jesus Christ,

It is about a message to lost humanity

And the enormity of salvation’s price.

 

 

 

Christmas is about a mission

Conceptualized by the heavenly Father,

A mission to redeem lost humanity

That the prince of darkness had scattered.

Christmas is about a journey

From the cradle to the grave to a crown,

About the greatest man the world has known

A man in whom new life can be found.

He was born in a borrowed stable

Since there was no room for him in the inn,

He grew up in humble surroundings

But from a child he never did sin.

There was much talk about his birth

In our day he would be a bastard child

For Joseph was not married to Mary

So for all intents she was defiled.

But this child as the angel had announced

Was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

“Fear not to marry Mary,” Joseph was told

Even though this was neither custom nor habit.

His next mention in the Holy Scriptures

Was when he was taken to the temple,

There he baffled the lawyers and doctors

As with their many questions he grappled.

 

He was baptized by the Baptist John

Who announced him as God’s precious Lamb

The Lamb to take away the sins of the world

Yes! Jesus Christ was that man.

Given the name of Jesus before his birth

He would save his people from their sin,

Jew and Gentile alike could be reborn

Once they put their trust in him.
 

From his baptism in the River Jordan

He was led of the Holy Spirit into the wilderness,

There the devil did try his very worst

But Jesus was greater than each test.

Three and a half years of ministry followed

As he ministered to the multitudes,

His twelve disciples accompanied him

As his many miracles ensued.

One day wicked men took him

And trumped up charges of blasphemy,

They laid these charges against the Christ

Then they led him to Calvary.

There on Golgotha, the place of the skull

They crucified the spotless Lamb,

Theirs was a case of miscarried justice

But God was implementing salvation’s plan.

He rose from the dead as he said he would

Having paid for our sins by his own blood,

He did for us what no one else could

And now invites us to come to him; we really should.

Christmas is Jesus born in a borrowed stable

On loan from the cattle in the stall,

Christmas is Jesus who never owned a home

Having given up heaven’s splendor for us all.

 

 
 

Christmas is about Jesus being laid in a tomb

A temporary place and given on loan,

Christmas is about Christ resurrected from the dead

So that we can now approach his throne.

Betrayed and abandoned by his closest friends

He remained committed to the cause,

He bid his lifeblood to redeem every child

And so implemented the salvation clause.

Christmas is about all who come to Christ

For none of these would he ever despise,

“Come unto me,” he calls again and again

Christmas is being rid of sin’s demise.

For God so loved that He gave His Son

From sin to set us free,

True Christmas then is being accepted in Christ

That’s what Christmas really means to me.

Christmas is the ‘whosoever’ of this world

That calls on the name of Christ

Who penitently confessing his sins

Acknowledges God’s supreme sacrifice.

Stewart Russell © 2016