This Christmas has been a wonderful season! It was my first Christmas with a family of my own. My wife, Sarah, and I spent our first Christmas as a married couple in South Carolina with her parents. Not only was it our first as a married couple, but it was also my wife's first "white Christmas." Yes, South Carolina had a white Christmas. The first one since 1964. It was a wonderful time with family and friends celebrating the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Throughout this Christmas season, I have constantly been reminded of what really makes Christmas so special. Over the past month I have asked various people what makes Christmas special to them. Far too often I heard the response of, "It's the time spent with family and friends," or "It's the rest and relaxation of time off of work." These are both good things, but neither of these come anywhere close to the real reason that Christmas is so special. Christmas is the celebration of a birth. Not an ordinary birth, but the birth of the God-man, Jesus Christ. The simple fact that God was born in human form makes the occasion extraordinary, but the most extraordinary part of it is what he came to do. He came to die. What makes Christmas special to the believer? In a word...the cross. The cross is what adds significance to Christ's birth. Christ was born in order that he would live a perfect life as a man, suffer and die for the sins of man, and then resurrect from the dead to give man victory over sin. There is little significance in celebrating the birth of Christ apart from the cross of Christ. The two are inseparable.
So when asked, "What makes Christmas special to you?" my answer will be "The cross."
