What are your expectations for the Christmas season? Has tradition, nostalgia and consumerism formed your expectations or has the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Most Christians would say Christmas is about Jesus’ birth, but does that necessarily mean the Gospel is at the center of their Christmas experience and expectation? Christmas and family traditions can be good, but they also can overtime delude the supernatural truth into just dead ritual that goes no deeper than emotionalism.

So, how can we restore our Christmas experience to a Gospel Christmas? First, we have to understand what a Gospel Christmas is. There is something powerful and transformative in taking the time to evaluate our expectations around Christmas and discuss also with our family. The reality of a cosmic spiritual war is often forgotten as the world’s ways creep into our Christmas expectation. We embrace baby Jesus swaddled in the manger with all the cute animals, but forget that an entire city of babies was slaughtered by King Herod who was satanically driven to wipe out the Messiah. We talk of Jesus being the greatest gift ever given to man for eternal life and peace on earth, but forget the price it cost Jesus in shedding His blood and taking on the wrath of God to cover our sins. All of this is a result of taking on more of the world’s idea of Christmas than the Bible and truth.

One main way to restore and have a Gospel Christmas is to not be satisfied with second and third hand experiences of the Gospel, but to ask, seek and knock for first hand experience with the Gospel in our heart. Second hand experiences are what we read about in the Bible, what we hear from others. Overtime if the Christmas story is not personally experienced it will fade into dead tradition. And this is what has happened to so many in the church today. So, are we going to restore in our own hearts a first hand experience with Jesus and lead others there too or just go through the same holiday routine?

What would happen around Christmas time if believers were more passionate about sharing Jesus and His Gospel with people than getting caught up in all the holiday frenzy? We still have several weeks until Christmas – Lord, transform our hearts so we can have a Gospel Christmas and lead others there too.