THE REASON FOR THE SEASON
For years, probably for as long as I can remember, I have heard that the reason for this season of the year is the celebration and remembrance of the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, some 2000 years ago. Let me suggest yet another reason…you and I! In a paradigm shift, think back a few millennia before the birth of Christ to the Garden of Eden. There in the Garden, Adam lived in complete fellowship with God. God enjoyed His fellowship with Adam by walking through the Garden with him and conversing with him. God had given Adam the job of chief caretaker of God’s Paradise, the Garden of Eden. Everything was great. Then Adam fell as sin entered the picture. So in an act of redemption for you and me (the descendants of Adam), God sent his One and Only Son into the world to be our Savior. (This plan was in place before the beginning of time as a covenant between God and His Son, Jesus.) Get the picture? The reason for the season is our personal redemption. God desired that He might once again experience the fellowship He enjoyed with Adam (mankind) in the Garden before the fall.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.†John 3:16-18
To renew that fellowship, God sent His Son, Jesus, to live among us some 2000 years ago. He came to explain the need for a newer form of fellowship between God and man called The Good News. This new form of fellowship was built upon God’s original platform, that of His unconditional love for mankind. It is through man’s fellowship with God that we learn about God’s love, His agape love. In the verses above, it states…"For God so loved the world that he gave..." He loved us so much that He gave of Himself, His Son. Jesus left the comforts of Heaven and came down to live among mankind, not in regal gowns or in opulent palaces, but to be born of a poor woman in a humble stable meant for sheep and goats. His gown was not silk but was made of rough cloths that His mother Mary wrapped Him in. His bed was not a golden cradle but a feed trough meant for livestock. Fully God, yet fully man, such was Jesus Christ’s entry into our world.
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! Philippians 2:5-8
As mentioned above, God’s great love for His creation necessitated a path for redemption of mankind’s lifestyle of sin. Thus because you and I needed a Savior, God sent His Son, our Creator, to our rescue.
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Hebrews 4:15-16
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21
This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 1 John 4:9-10
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:9-11
As you can see, the reason for the season is our personal salvation. This does not belittle the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, whose birthday we celebrate at this time of year. It just sets forth a shift in our thinking, that Christ came down from heaven, giving up his royal status to live among mankind as one of us. He came to show us a better way to live, a way of salvation. Fully god, yet fully man, He lived like us with one difference…He did not sin. Through His human nature, He experienced our pain, our frustrations and our temptations. However, in His divine nature, He was prevented from sinning.
So as we start a new year and as we deal with our dysfunctional marriage relationships, Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith… Hebrews 12:2a. Jesus is the reason for the season as is our personal salvation the reason for this season.
May God send His blessings and comfort during this season of your life.
Standing firm until parted by death.
Ben in Texas,
Rejoice Marriage Ministries, Inc.
