The Reason for the Season

I know it’s been awhile since I typed anything for this blog. I’ve just been thinking of a few things recently that I really wanted to post for everyone’s thought and consideration. As I’m sure you know today is December 3^rd, and that means Christmas is just around the corner (22 days and counting)! It’s a great time of year filled with many presents, good food, holiday music, and everything else there is to offer. As wonderful as all these things are, however, they aren’t the real reason why we celebrate Christmas. The real reason for celebrating Christmas is to commemorate the miracle birth of Jesus Christ by a virgin. It’s not really Christmas unless Christ is in it. There are several areas where, even though many people want it to be different, Jesus still plays a prominent role. Take traditional music for example. Let’s look at a traditional Christmas song, “Silent Night”. The end of the second verse says, “Christ the Savior is born, Christ the Savior is born”. What does that mean exactly? Savior from what? Also, during military funerals and such, someone on bagpipes is playing the song “Amazing Grace”; regardless of whether you’ve been in church before or not, I’m certain that you’ve heard this song played at one time or another. But what is that song talking about? The first verse says, “Amazing grace/How sweet the sound/That saved a wretch like me/I once was lost, but now am found/Was blind but now I see”. What does this mean exactly? I’m going to explain to you what things from these songs mean and how they relate to all of us.

First, let’s look at the phrase “that saved a wretch like me” from “Amazing Grace”. The Bible says in the book of Romans chapter 3 verse 23 that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. How do the lyric phrase and Bible verse relate? They both say that we’re all sinners. This means that we’ve lived contrary to what God says we should be doing. Anything wrong we’ve done such as lying, cheating, stealing, or being greedy is classified as sin in God’s eyes. When we sin we come short of the glory of God, and that makes us a wretch in comparison to Him. This is one thing that I see about God and Christ found in the song “Amazing Grace”.

Second, let’s look at the phrase “I once was lost” from “Amazing Grace”. Because we are sinners who fall short compared to God, that means we are lost and unable to find God. Since we have disobeyed God and He sees us as wretches, He has seen fit to punish us for our sin. The Bible says in Romans chapter 6 verse 23 that the wages (payment) for sin is death. The reason that man physically dies is because everyone sins during their lifetime, no matter how “big” or “small” the sin is. As well though, man dies spiritually. We can’t find God spiritually because, as sinners, God has separated us from Himself and won’t allow us to have any kind of fellowship or union with Him. Therefore, we’re lost and have earned the penalty of dying both physically and spiritually because of our sin.

Third, let’s look at the phrase “Christ the Savior is born” from “Silent Night”. This is talking about two amazing elements in the life of Jesus Christ. There is the birth of Jesus by a virgin, truly an amazing miracle. Jesus was both God and man because He was not born from a physical father; He was born through the Holy Spirit. He lived a perfect, sinless life. Jesus went about offering the kingdom of God to the people, but they rejected Him and accused Him of things He didn’t do. They hated Jesus so much that they put Him before a court and He was sentenced to death for crimes He hadn’t committed. Jesus was nailed to a cross and left to die. He did die, but He miraculously resurrected from the dead three days later. The Bible says in Romans 5:8 that God demonstrates His love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He paid the price that we couldn’t pay (the wages of sin) by dying on the cross for crimes that He didn’t do. He suffered and bled and died on the cross for us. Therefore, Christ is our Savior because He is offering us salvation from spiritual death and from eternal punishment that God would otherwise be giving us. Jesus had the power to rise from the dead, so He has the power to raise us from the dead spiritually if we trust in Him.

Lastly, let’s look at the other phrases from “Amazing Grace”. What is this amazing grace that’s being sung about? Well, the Bible says in the book of Ephesians chapter 2 verse 8 that by grace we have been saved through faith (in Jesus Christ). Grace is defined as unmerited favor; in other words, God is showing us mercy and love when we as sinners definitely do not deserve it. He’s offered us this amazing grace by sending His own Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for our sins as it says in John chapter 3 verse 16. Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8 and 9 say that we’re saved by grace through faith in Christ and that it’s not anything we can do on our own. It says that our salvation isn’t because of our works because then we would be boasting about it. Salvation through Christ isn’t accomplished by anything we can do, because we as sinners in God’s eyes will never be able to meet His standards on our own. That makes the grace He gives us even more amazing, because it shows that He loves us SO much when we really have nothing we can offer to Him in return. And when we put our faith in Jesus Christ and realize that nothing but Him can save us, the results are quite amazing as well. “Amazing Grace” says “I once was lost but now am found/Was blind but now I see”. God opens our eyes and reveals to us how we can have true life in Him. He takes away our spiritual blindness and shows us the way to Him. That’s truly amazing grace.

The things I’ve just mentioned show that Christ still plays a prominent role in traditional music that is played by society today. He’s mentioned frequently in the various holiday songs and also songs like “Amazing Grace” that are heard often in our world. That’s why Jesus can never really be taken out of Christmas or Easter, because He’s what the holidays are really all about. Christians in particular can take great joy in the holidays, because they know that Christ has wonderfully saved them from their sins and that He is the true source of their joy in life. Truly, Christ is the reason for the season.