Love, The Essence of Christmas

Christmas is the liveliest time of the year when we hold parties, give and exchange gifts and have family or group reunion. It’s also the most expensive season of the year because of the money we spend on decorating our homes, and on buying gifts and foods.

We celebrate the season to express our gratitude to God for fulfilling His promise that He made through the prophets to send to us our savior- the Messiah. The love of mankind is God’s reason for sending his only begotten Son to us. Jesus’ birth is God’s gift to us. 

Since time immemorial man was in awe of the celestial bodies and the immediate environment around him. He could not fathom their beauty, mystery and complexity so that he believed that unseen hands might be behind their existence. Because of it he worshipped the sun, the moon and the stars as gods. In Biblical times, man create idols like a golden calf and other identifiable creatures as visual representation of his god. Those practices are abominations to the true God. He said in the Bible that He created man in his own image. The human appearance is the image of God. We see it in you and in me. If we love each other we also love God.

Man cannot reach or see God, but He can reach him. So He came in the flesh so that man could see Him. He was “Immanuel” or God with us. He was Jesus Christ.

People in Biblical times awaited the coming of the savior who would be king of Israel. But Jesus came in a circumstance not befitting a royal birth. He was just born on a manger to a poor family.

We emulate God’s gesture of kindness by also giving gifts on Christmas. The amount of gift that we give or receive doesn’t matter. What is important is that the act of giving and receiving comes from the heart. Your act expresses your love and appreciation to the person you deal with. Giving is even more admirable when the recipients are the poor- the people who really need our help.

Loving people is the greatest gift that we can give. We should do it not only during Christmas but also in other times.

The love of the world is the reason why God sent us our savior. Jesus also preached to love our neighbors when He was here with us. Isn’t it a coincidence that the most beautiful word in a dictionary of whatever language is “love”? Can you find any other word that is more beautiful than it?

I wish you a merry and a happy celebration of Christmas!

Related article: The Story of First Christmas: http:/relijournal.com/Christianity/the-story-of-first-christmas/