Life in All Its Fullness

As the Christmas season descends, we start seeing countless commercials for things we “must” buy. The implied promise is that if you give this or if you receive that, then you will be happy.

Of course, there’s a rush of excitement in receiving a very special gift. But I’ll bet that you can’t even remember what you got for Christmas last year. It was so important then, but now it has faded from your memory.

I think Christmas, commercially at least, cannot live up to the promise. It can’t live up to the standards we have set in our minds, because Christmas is, at best, a promise of greater things to come.

If your hope is in Christmas, then you will be disappointed—especially when the bills come due. You open your presents on Christmas morning, and then on December 26, it’s bills, bills, bills.

It is not Christmas that will bring you fulfillment. It’s Christ. He will give you life, and that more abundantly.

Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10 NKJV). That is the hope of Christmas through Christ. That is the gift that God wants all of us to have.

In reality, I have found that the greatest moments of Christmas are not the ones we often get psyched about. Rather, the greatest moments of Christmas are those in-between moments, like when you’re having a meal together with family. Or the moments when you’re wrapping a gift, not giving it. Then there are the moments when you’re with the family of God, those moments of worship.

So this Christmas, slow down. Relax a little bit. Enjoy it and take it in. Because Jesus was born in Bethlehem to bring us life—and all its fullness.