The Gospel in Real Life

I love this time of year. The fall months are my favorite for a lot of different reasons. The temperature drops below triple digits. I put that one first on purpose. In the fall, the outside temperatures become livable again and we slowly start to creep outside and life on the patio resumes, at least until sometime in May when the temperatures climb back into those nasty triple digits again. Our mild fall days are good for spending time on the patio with an open Bible, a good book, and my first (and only) wife. My favorite holidays – Thanksgiving and Christmas – begin to loom large. My wife’s December birthday looms even larger and is a big deal around our house. The leaves fall off of our trees and then a week to ten days later (literally) they reappear. Welcome to southern Arizona where there are three seasons: hot, not so hot, and a little bit chilly. Then there is football. I decided this year to watch it more and get up to speed with it all. The last few years, I haven’t paid too much attention to it. But this year’s been different. I’ve actually found the time to watch several games, pro and college, and I feel like I know what’s going on for the first time in quite a while.

Then there’s Christmas, that most wonderful time of the year. Yards come alive with amazing decorations and lights. Our cul-de-sac is usually lit up so bright, it’s probably visible from space. I’m guilty of contributing to that. Christmas trees start to go up with amazing care to detail as beautiful decorations are hung on them, multi-colored lights adorn them, and presents start to appear beneath them. I love the sight of a tastefully decorated tree. And let’s not forget the inside decorations. We string lights inside our houses too. We decorate fireplace mantles and hearths with green, red, gold, and blue Christmas colors. Candles and wreaths can be found on our doors and walls – walls where we once hung our favorite pictures. Miniature Christmas towns suddenly appear on blankets of fake snow, all lit up with miniature people standing on street corners under a street lamp, perhaps singing Christmas carols. And Christmas music fills the house as this most wonderful time of the year begins to take hold of our hearts and demand our attention. Have I mentioned that I love this time of the year?

But what if, instead of decorating a tree, we put up a cross. Does that seem out of place to you? Does the cross only belong in Easter? As we sing songs about silent nights, the little town of Bethlehem, and baby Jesus in a manger, meek and mild, does the idea of a cross seem foreign, awkward, or somehow out of place? Would our neighbors think us weird if instead of inflatable snowmen, reindeer, Santa Claus, manger scenes, and sleighs, we planted a cross in our front yard or on our rooftop? Would they think we’ve confused our holidays and that we think it’s Easter and not Christmas? If we put up a cross in our yard, we could put this verse under it and shine a bright light on it for all of our friends and neighbors to see:

Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” (John 18:37)

Jesus spoke those words just before his crucifixion on a cross. Jesus came into the world to die a brutal death on a cross. If you’re wondering what the true meaning of Christmas is, this is it: Jesus was born to die. That puts the cross at the center of Christmas. Baby Jesus, meek and mild, bore the sins of many and took the full force of the Father’s wrath in the place of his elect so that they could have eternal life and never know or experience God’s anger at their sin. Jesus took God’s anger in my place. He was born for that purpose. Christmas and trees go together, but not because of family traditions or cultural expectations and assumptions. Christmas and trees go together because Jesus was hung on a tree and was cursed for me (Galatians 3:13). At it’s core, Christmas is about the cross and the message of the gospel. Jesus came into the world to die on a tree for me.

I haven’t found any Christmas cards with that message. There aren’t any at Target. We want peace on earth, but with no mention of the true message and meaning of Christmas, the cross and how to have peace with God. The true message of Christmas is centered around an old rugged cross where the Savior shed his blood for others. When I think about Christmas, I think of the cross. I love this time of year.