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Key Bible Verse: This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins (1 John 4:10). Bonus Reading: 1 Timothy 3:16

Every Christmastime people get giddy, smile a lot, and feel good about the world in general. However, a large number haven't been told, don't remember, or don't believe that God would enter time and space. Reference to the Incarnation has been legally eliminated from our public institutions, and the courts have ruled that, while Christmas trees are fine as long as they're "secular," no reference to "religious" beliefs is allowable.

So we have this holiday that celebrates celebrating. The problem with this is that there isn't enough gasoline to keep the engine going. Over and over again I hear people talk about the acute loneliness they feel at Christmas, and about how they somehow "can't get into Christmas this year." When the celebrating has lost its reason, it becomes empty, meaningless, and incredibly boring.

Something similar, while far more subtle, has happened to Christians. We continue to do the forms of celebrating. We sing the hymns, we repeat the creeds, we say the prayers; but the malaise has set in. We've lost the joy of it all because we've forgotten that what we believe is true—really true!

—Steve Brown in Follow the Wind

My Response: How can I enhance a focus on the basic Christmas event in my home?

Adapted from Follow the Wind (WaterBrook, 2005)

Copyright © 2009 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

Lord, help me to get past all the "forms" of Christmas to the essence of your staggering gift.

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