For many, Christmas is the pinnacle of the year. The enjoyment of family and friends, gift-giving, festivities, decorations, music, holiday foods, and entertainment.

For others, it is a time of sorrow. It is a remembrance of lost loves or a reminder of one’s impoverished standard of living and inability to measure up in an increasingly materialistic world where money forms the basis of societal status.

Many attend church services and engage in special fellowship gatherings.

But each year, the true meaning of Christmas is buried deeper and deeper in the cacophony of sounds and stories, competing events and ideas.

What is Christmas?

It is a celebration of the birth of Jesus!

It is the kick-off, the opening tip. All the planning and preparation is complete.

At the entrance of Jesus, the big game has begun, with the outcome’s deciding moment marked by Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. Christians celebrate this momentous occasion at Easter.

You see, Jesus was essentially born to die, not because of anything in and of Himself but for us.

God loves us more than we can imagine.

Still, our sin forms an impenetrable barrier between us and Him, making any semblance of a meaningful relationship impossible.

The only thing that can break down that barrier is a sacrifice of innocence capable of wiping away all our sins.

Without that sacrifice, we are destined to die eternally separated from God.

No human being can provide or be that sacrifice because no one is innocent. We all sin and are guilty by God’s righteous and just standards.

But because God loved us, even though in our sin-nature we despised and rejected Him, He sent Jesus, supernaturally born in Bethlehem, to the Virgin Mary.

Jesus was and is God the Son, the second person in the triune Godhead, with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

The Incarnation of Jesus, God in human flesh and blood, was predetermined and orchestrated to the minute detail as predicted and prophesied by prophets throughout Israelite history and recorded in the Old Testament Scriptures for would-be believers through the ages.

Jesus died for the sins of the world according to God’s plan for all who would accept Him and His gift of eternal life through Him.

That is what makes Christmas amazing and special and why Christians worldwide celebrate it.

So, take time this year to look beyond the glitter and bright lights, the packages, and decorations, and focus on the baby in the manger, born to bring salvation to the world.

Give attention to the risen Savior who lives to bridge the gap between God and humankind.

If you don’t know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, take time today to repent of your sinful nature, confess your sins to God, and accept God’s gift of salvation and eternal life.

Your eternal destiny depends on it.

Merry Christmas!