Center Your Family Around Christ this December

If your family is anything like ours, your December will be filled with all kinds of things — house-decorating, light-hanging, leaf-raking, trip-going, basketball-playing, purging-cleaning, leaf-raking, greeting-card-designing, movie-watching, gift-giving, neighbor-connecting, fireside-sitting, picture-taking, party-going, cookie-making, story-reading, food-making (bring on the jalapeno poppers!!), present-opening, tree-getting, family-gathering, and did I mention leaf-raking? (I’m thankful for tall trees, but man!) What an exciting and busy time of year. Probably my favorite moment as a family over the years has been all six of us in the mini-van (no shame in my game!), headed out to Western North Carolina to get a Christmas tree from a farm, blasting Keith & Kristyn Getty’s Joy: An Irish Christmas Live — which is phenomenal, by the way! — and filled with all the joy that comes with the season. You have your own moments like that, I’m sure.

We fill our schedules with these activities because we want fond Christmas memories; we want our kids to have fond Christmas memories. And I hope and trust they will.

I think you know where I’m going with this. Allow me to preach to myself, and please feel free to listen in.

Everything I listed above, I absolutely love and enjoy (leaf-raking is the possible exception). But there’s a snare: if I’m not careful, those things will capture my heart. They will captivate me, distract me — even satisfy me. In fact, if I’m not careful, I will merely reprimand myself with the reminder that Jesus is the “Reason for the season.” And then go about my December as before.

I’m not even talking about Santa Claus, Black Friday, Frosty the Snowman, Jingle Bells, “Season’s Greetings,” Happy Winter Solstice, Happy Kwanzaa and the like. By God’s grace, we’re wise enough to see those things for the frauds they are.

No, I’m talking about the good stuff of December. The things that give us those warm feelings. My list of “favorite things” above… these are good things, right? I hope so. And I hope yours are too. But, good as they may be, they must not capture our hearts, our imaginations, our devotion.

Yes, they are good. But they are “less than.” In fact, they are infinitely less than. To put them up against what God has done for us in Christ is giving them dignity of competition. I won’t do it.

Let’s meditate on this for a second and see how it may change our perspective this year: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us …” (John 1:14a, ESV). Did you hear that? Did I hear that? If you and I do not fall on our knees in worship (whether physically or metaphorically), I don’t think we have grasped it. Even then, I’m not sure if we are even capable of grasping it. The baby in the manger was the Word Who had become flesh. (Insert blown head emoji.)

This eternal truth, this beauty, this majesty — THIS is what I want to capture my heart, your heart and the hearts of our kids this Christmas. Anything else, and we have fallen prey to the “less thans” of Christmas. If we think of Christmas primarily as “the time where we do a bunch of fun things,” we have missed the point, and we will lead our kids to the wrong point. The point is this: Christmas is the story of God’s rescue mission for broken people like you and me. We were “without hope” (Ephesians 2:12) — but God made a way for us through Christ. PRAISE is the only appropriate response for such mercy and grace. Christmas, above all things, should be a time of unmitigated, unadulterated praise to our God.

Of course I’m not saying we can’t enjoy good things during Christmas. We can and should. But what’s the passion, the intention, the motivation, the heart behind it all? This really matters, both individually and for the life of our families. Paul gives us a wonderful command in 1 Corinthians 10:31. It’s not a Christmas verse, but let’s go ahead and apply it to this season: “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (ESV).

Here’s my simple logic: God has done everything for us in sending Christ; may everything we do be in response to the great love He has shown us. When we have contemplated and believed what God has done, our hearts will be rightly oriented towards Him and His amazing work.

So let’s stop and reflect on the items we’re planning this December. There’s no need for legalism — obviously not everything will be filled with strategy and intention. But there’s good reason for evaluation. Do our activities in December honor Christ or point us or others to Christ? Even the mundane can be done in a way that honors Him. If, in the middle of all the festivities, we can’t find time or energy for anything that truly honors Christ, we’ve missed it. We’ve settled for the “lesser thans.” Don’t do it.

So here comes December… You need to make a cheeseball for a family event (with bacon, of course)? Do it to the glory of God. You’re baking cookies for neighbors? Do it to the glory of God. You’re sending out a family Christmas card? Do it to the glory of God. Your son has a basketball game? Urge him to play to the glory of God. Your daughter has a dance recital? Urge her to dance to glory of God. If we keep this in mind, we will have a Christ-honoring Christmas season, no matter what good things we enjoy. The “less thans” will be kept in their place: enjoyed but not ultimate.

This Christmas, be strategic and intentional as you determine what activities you’ll engage in as a family. Create space for worship and awe of our glorious God, as you contemplate His goodness and grace, expressed to us in Christ. May you and I point our children to Christ and remind them — and remind yourself — that Jesus Christ is not just the “Reason for the season” — He is the Reason for living itself. He is the Point of it all.

So let’s do this thing! May Christ be honored in your home and in all of your activities this Christmas.