Going Home For Christmas
International Bible Society
11/4/98
Going Home For Christmas
We Americans come from all over. So it’s no surprise that no matter where you call home there are almost as many ways of celebrating Christmas as there are Americans.
Regardless of the tradition, or where the tradition began, Christmas celebrations in America have one thing in common. Christmas is when Americans go home. Families, often separated by miles or years or heartaches, come together. Children who have left the nest to pursue their dreams, to chase careers, to be independent, come home to try and recapture whatever it was they were trying to escape. Christmas is about going home, about ending the separation.
Of course, not everyone can go home. Some have no family. Others, if they did go home, wouldn’t find a Christmas welcome. Still others have no home at all. Time, circumstances, distance, even death create gulfs too broad to be bridged by holiday cheer. No yule log, no candle, no tree, no decoration can mask the loneliness of those who miss family and friends most on the one day each year when family and friends seem most precious.
Being separated from loved ones, especially at Christmas, is one of the deepest pains we ever feel. And God feels that pain, too. He created us. He loves us. But the Bible says we are separated from God by selfishness and sin. Like rebellious children, we have turned our backs on God to seek our independence. But God has made a way to end that separation. He became one of us. He lived among us. He reached across the gulf of sin and selfishness, of loneliness and fear.
God came to us through Jesus Christ. The Bible says:
But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son... that we might receive the full rights of sons.... For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Jesus did all the good things we have trouble doing. He loved others. He gave unselfishly. He forgave people who did not deserve forgiveness. He helped anyone who needed a hand. And he didn’t do the bad things we do so easily. He didn’t hate. He wasn’t greedy or jealous or selfish. In the end, he gave his life for us. He died to pay the penalty for our sins.
Scripture tells us:
God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us... But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ... He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. God loves you. God will forgive you. You don’t need to be separated from him any longer! If you ask, he’ll make his home in your life. He’ll be your Father. You’ll be one of his children. Then, even if you can’t go home this Christmas, God will give you his special peace, a peace which the Bible says,
transcends all understanding. But there’s more. As a member of God’s family, you will have another home, an eternal home, even after this life is over. Jesus said:
Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
God invites you to become a member of His family. Will you accept His invitation? If you do, no matter how you celebrate Christmas, you’ll be at home with God.
—
International Bible Society
