Christmas is a season when we can spend time with friends and family that mean the most to us. We often focus on lights to hang, trees to decorate and gifts to purchase and distribute. Yet, Christmas is about more than lights, trees, and gifts.

The beginning of John’s Gospel is one of the most beautiful passages in all of Scripture. It offers us a helpful reminder of whom we should focus on this Christmas. It focuses on God himself in the person of Jesus Christ, the light of the world. Jesus never wrote a song, yet more songs are written about Him than any other person in history. He never authored a book, but books about Him can fill warehouses. The incarnation, His arrival on earth, served to divide the whole of human history in two (B.C. and A.D.). He calmed seas, healed the hurting, challenged the comfortable, comforted the challenged and changed every life He touched. It is no surprise that even His own disciples said, “Who is this Jesus?”

John 1:1-5 declares that Jesus Christ did not make His debut on that first Christmas morning in Bethlehem. He existed before creation — “in the beginning,” and “through Him all things were made” (John 1:1, 3). In Genesis God said, “Let us make man in our image” (Genesis 1:26). God the Father speaking to God the Son, the Word! The Word is none other than Jesus Christ. We know this because later, in verse 14, John tells us, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” Can you imagine? The Eternal Word, God, came down to dwell among us! One translation states, “The Word became human and made his home among us.” God wanted to reveal Himself to us in terms we could understand. One preacher said, “Jesus took everything there was to know about God and put it on a shelf we could reach.”

Heavenly Father, this Christmas may we focus on Christ, who lit our hearts by grace through faith. Help us to not focus so much on the decorative lights that we forget about the Light of the World. Help us to not obsess so much about the tree that we forget that He suffered on a tree for our sins. May we not become so burdened with gifts that we forget about the greatest gift of all, the gift of salvation. Thank you that we can celebrate Him who made His home among us so that we can know you. Amen.

– Dr. Bernie Cueto
Campus Pastor, Palm Beach Atlantic University