Day 3: What IS Christmas Really About?

“[Jesus, the Light of the World] Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”” John 8:12 NLT

Here on day three (sorry it’s after midnight, however I was busy hanging out with Jesus) I feel compelled to speak about the lights.  As we decorate for Christmas we seem to be obsessed with the lights.  More and more people seem to be in competitions with their neighbors to have the bigger and better displays of the Christmas lights.  We take our children out to see the displays others have up.  Lights come in all shapes and sizes, colors and options, some blink, some stay on constantly, some get really hot, some blow fuses and still others are just a tangled mess.  Now this blog could go in a total different direction if I chose to compare people to Christmas lights but that is not the reason I write.  My focus this 25 days of blogging is to relate Christmas now to the birth of Jesus.

Once again, just like the donkey, there is no mention of “lights” in the telling of the birth of Jesus.  Sure there was the star, and that will be another blog, however, the first mention of lights in Matthew 5:15 No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house.  So again, how did Christmas lights get to a place of such importance in our celebration of the birth?  Jesus was born in a stable.  The only light was possibly some candles or a lantern, nothing blinking or colorful.  Nothing flashy or distracting.  Just natural glowing light to surround our King.  Where did we go so wrong?

I remember so many times my mom would spend HOURS trying to untangle lights and find out which one did not work. She would get so angry and frustrated and them hand them over to me and get mad if I couldn’t get them to work either.  What a crazy waste of time!  Why not spend some extra time reading the story of Jesus to your child or making a batch of cookies to take over to the neighbors.  We so needlessly tend to things which in the end are just a source of frustration we begin to lose out on the true meaning of what we are doing in the first place.  Sure the lights are pretty, but what if we spent that much time trying to mend our relationship with God instead?  What if we focused on trying to find the “broken bulbs” in our lives and untangling the twisted messes in our lives?

I truly believe Jesus, the LIGHT of the world would think the Christmas lights are beautiful, but I fear He himself would wonder what it had to do with His humble birth.  I challenge us all to view Christmas lights in a whole new “Light” this Christmas season.  Begin to relate how we can fix our broken bulbs and replace them with more Jesus.  Begin to heal so that our lives will no longer be tangled in sin.  Show others the “brightness” of the Christmas season by simply being who we are in Christ.  Let Christmas “shine” through us instead of outwardly displays of color.  I urge us all to replace the Christmas lights this year with The Light and see if Christmas begins to have more meaning.