The Greatest Gift Is Jesus

With the holidays upon us and the ‘chaos’ that often accompanies this time of year, it’s easy to get caught up and distracted from the real reason of the season – the birth of our savior, Jesus Christ. It’s also becoming harder to keep Christ in Christmas. 

Every year we seem to lose a little bit more of the true meaning of Christmas. God came to the world as Christ and walked among us as a man. His name is Immanuel which means God is with us. He came to redeem us back to Himself and forgive all our sins. Christmas is about Him.

As Christians, it’s important that we keep Jesus as the focus because He is the greatest gift of all. It’s our responsibility to teach our family what Christmas is about, especially if we have little ones. So, if you’re looking for ways to help you put the focus on Jesus this year, here are some ideas.   

Read the Christmas story

The Christmas story is found in the bible in Matthew 1:18-25 and Luke 1:5-56 to 2:1-20. Take the time to read this with your family this year. Let them know the real meaning of Christmas.

Christmas Family Devotions

What better way to put the focus on Jesus than reading a daily devotion? Here are some I found when I did a quick Google search: 

• Devotions for Christmas: A Celebration to Bring You Joy and Peace
• The Greatest Gift: Unwrapping the Full Love Story of Christmas (this isn’t a devotions book but could be a great one to read during the Holidays)

Advent Calendar

These are special calendars used to count down the days to Christmas. They’re a lot of fun, especially if you have little ones – they get a kick out of opening the doors on the calendar each day. Here’s one you can check out: The Wonder of the Greatest Gift: An Interactive Family Celebration of Advent.

Attend Christmas events at church

Nearly every church has some sort of program for Christmas that represents the true meaning of Christmas. Make sure you and your family attend one of those or participate in one if you enjoy participating in live performances.

Give Up A Gift To Help Someone Else

For this one, you need to get your whole family on board. The idea behind this is that each family member agrees to receive one or two fewer gifts, and the extra money that would have been spent on those gifts is given to a charitable organization. You can choose from many like Compassion, to name one.

Make homemade gifts this year

This one will take a lot of thought and heart. Instead of shopping and making the stores rich this year, why not make gifts from the heart this year. Think about each family member. Ask God what would be meaningful to them. Get creative. You never know what you will come up with. 

Volunteer

Choose a local organization like a soup kitchen or homeless shelter, etc., and find out about volunteering some time. This is a perfect family activity and can be an eye-opening and humbling experience for kids old enough to understand that some people don’t even have basic necessities like food.

Random Acts of Kindness

This is a fun one. Take the entire season of Christmas, usually the month of December, and commit to doing random acts of kindness. Be sure to get your entire family involved in this one. Make a kindness calendar and write different things you can do for others in your community, family, church, neighbors, friends, relatives, or strangers. These acts can be anything. They can be in person or anonymous.

Pray For Your Neighborhood

Grab your family, step outside, and walk around your neighborhood, looking at all the lights and decorations. As you do so, have you and your family pray over each house. 

These are only a handful of ideas. It’s a good starting point, but you can do so many other things to keep Jesus the focus this Holiday season. The simple, meaningful traditions above are things that can keep the meaning of Christ in Christmas and keep it alive in the hearts of your children and family.

Let us always remember: Jesus is the greatest gift and is the reason for the season. 

Grace and peace,

Alicia