It's About the Cross

My thinking about Christmas has changed. Now don't get me wrong. I still enjoy this holiday and it's still my favorite time of year. But Christmas is not just about Jesus's birth. And it shouldn't be celebrated flippantly. The whole reason Jesus was born was so that he could die. Die on a cross for people who hate him and reject him. Die for sinners who don't deserve it. Die for me. Die for you. Die to give all people a chance to live eternally. Wow. What. Incredible. Love. We must not lose the perspective of the cross even while we're celebrating his birth. Because without the cross, there wouldn't be a manger. 

This song "It's About the Cross" sums it up pretty well. 

It's not just about the manger where the baby lay, 

It's not all about the angels who sing for him at day. 

It's not all about the shepherds or the bright and shining star. 

It's not all about the wise men who travelled from afar. 

It's about the cross, it's about my sin. It's about how Jesus came to be born once so that we could be born again. 
It's about the stone that was rolled away so that you and I could have real life someday. 

It's about the cross. 

It's not just about the good things in this life I've done. 
It's not all about the treasures or the trophies that I've won. 
It's not about the righteousness that I find within. 
It's all about his precious blood that saved me from my sin.

The beginning of the story is wonderful and great, but it's the ending that can save you and that's why we celebrate. It's about God's love, nailed to a tree. It's about every drop of blood that flowed from him when it should have been me. 

It's about the cross, it's about my sin. It's about how Jesus came to be born once so that we could be born again. 
It's about the stone that was rolled away so that you and I could have real life someday. 

It's about the cross. 

May you have a merry Christ-centered Christmas! 

...and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

~Matthew 1:21