Christmas is celebrated worldwide by Christians to mark the birth of Jesus Christ. He is the Son of God who came to save the world from destruction due to the corruption of sin in every life.
He ransomed us from the curse of sin and death by giving His own life for ours on His crucifixion cross. And today He is alive. He lives in the heart of all those who believe in Him.
What actually is the purpose of celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ?
The Apostle John, the younger brother of Jesus revealed to us the primary purpose of His coming when he wrote:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
John 3:16 NIV
We can see here that the primary purpose of His coming is to give us eternal life. Eternity with God is available to everyone who believes in Jesus Christ as the Son of God.
Eternity with God in this sense means His abundance with a fulfilled life in Christ Jesus (John 10:10).
Jesus explained this further when He said:
“For as the Father is the source of life, so he has given the Son the power to impart life.”
John 5:26 TPT
The Zoe life has always been in God, the Father before the beginning of all creations. That Zoe life of God was the life that was given birth to when Jesus was born. He became at birth the Word of God personified:
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
John 1:14 NKJV
John explained this further:
“In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.”
John 1:4 NIV
The word “light” as used here by John in the original Bible translation is a word that stands for “development or the evolution of mankind”.
In other words, the light itself is the life of God, Who God gave to us when we received Jesus as our Lord and Savior. When we received Jesus as Lord into the heart, we received the very life (Zoe) of God in us.
The ability to live an abundant or fulfilled life was imputed to us, when we received Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. This is the new birth that we experienced when we got saved, healed and delivered from the destruction of the devil.
From that moment of our lives as Christians we became responsible for using that “light life” (Zoe), to develop or evolve into becoming whom God created us to be in this new life.
Jesus declared again concerning Himself:
… “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness but have the light of life.””
John 8:12 NKJV
The “light of life” begins to evolve and develop in us from the very moment when we turned away from darkness towards the light of God (Zoe). We begin to experience this new life, and Jesus starts to reign in our hearts as the Lord of everything.
We totally surrendered our lives into His hand for direction and guidance, while He leads us to develop or evolve into becoming, who we were created to be in the new life with Him.
This is the greatest miracle that can ever happen to anyone. It opens the window of opportunities for other benefits of the Zoe life or eternal life for us.
Whether or not we are living in that abundant or fulfilled life here on the earth is absolutely up to us. We do have the light or Zoe life within us, so as to be living eternally with God.
What we do with that “light life” in our lives is absolutely our own individual decisions.
Whatever we decide to do with Him affects our ability to enjoy the abundant or fulfilled life here on earth. And that decision may also affect our ability to enjoy eternal life with God.
Let His light shine!
Jesus again said:
“No one, when he has lit a lamp, puts it in a secret place or under a basket, but on a lampstand, that those who come in may see the light.”
Luke 11:33 NKJV
This is a direct reference to the light life of God in our lives as believers in Christ Jesus. The Zoe life within you is seeking continually for expression through your daily life and activities.
Paul described it in this manner:
“For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.”
Romans 8:19 NKJV
And in the Passion Translation:
“The entire universe is standing on tiptoe, yearning to see the unveiling of God’s glorious sons and daughters!”
Romans 8:19 TPT
The Zoe life in us is waiting on us to be revealed or unveiled, even as the entire universe is standing on tiptoe for that unveiling or revelation.
What are you going to do about that light life of God in you?
Celebrating Christmas without the “light life” of God, makes Christmas itself meaningless. The “light life of God” will always lead you into doing the works of Christ on the earth, not only during the Christmas celebration but at all times.
The “light life” ought to be shining not only during the Christmas season. This is what the “light life” does at all seasons and at all times. So let Him shine!
Eternity with Christ is yours.
Eternity with God, the Father became available to everyone in the “light life”, on that night when Christ was given birth to.
Many people did put their faith in Him during His life and ministry here on earth. And eternity with Christ had been made available to everyone even up till now, if you are really seeking for it.
You can’t get to live eternally with God by getting a one-way ticket to Mars or to the Moon. By receiving Jesus into your life as Savior and Lord, a door becomes open for you into eternity with God.
The angel who appeared to Joseph (the earthly father of Jesus) told him about the child in the womb of his betrothed girl (Mary):
“She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
Matthew 1:21 NIV
Jesus was born to save those who will become His followers from their sins.
It is absolutely impossible to follow Jesus while you’re still holding on to your past sins and the “little foxes” or idols of your life.
Following Jesus is not something that Christians do when it is Christmas season alone. It is an eternal Covenant relationship decision that’s made. A decision that guarantees you and me eternity with Him (Jesus) in that Zoe life with God, the Father.
Jesus was not born to start the Church or any denomination either. On the contrary, He came primarily to give us access to eternal life with God.
Jesus was born to save us from the consequences of sin being in our lives, which is eternal separation from God. He said:
“…I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
John 10:10b NKJV
Abundant life is eternal life, and it is the fulfilled life of God in every child of God.
Eternity with God is available today for anyone, who does not only wish to merry around during Christmas. It is available for those who will dare to believe in Christ Jesus and live, as if they are on the way going to heaven to be eternally with Jesus while still on the earth.
Saying “Merry Christmas” is not therefore a socially or religiously correct cliché for the season. We say it because of the joy of salvation that we had experienced in Him.
And secondly, we say it because of the light life and resurrection power of Christ in our lives as the children of God.
Joy is therefore expressed in singing, dancing, laughing and shouting before God. God is always pleased to see us being joyful.
Let Jesus be your Healer and Deliverer.
The secondary purpose for the celebration of Christmas is directly linked with the primary purpose. We cannot enjoy the benefits of being Christians without having eternal life with God.
Just as the heart is open to receive Jesus as Lord, a Christian must open up his heart to receive the benefits which Christ’s birth gave to us.
Apostle John (the younger brother of Jesus) again wrote:
“He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.”
I John 3:8 NKJV
It is important to note that we cannot experience the Zoe life here on earth if we are still living a sinful lifestyle. You cannot call yourself a child of God while you’re still living everyday of your life on earth in sin. Sinfulness does not go hand in hand with godliness.
The god of this sinful world is the devil (2 Corinthians 4:4), and his job is to keep Christians away from enjoying the benefits of eternal life with Christ Jesus on the earth. The devil doesn’t mind if you call yourself a Christian, as long as he’s able to keep you sick, poor and depressed.
Those are his trademarks, and he knows that you can’t enjoy the benefits of being a child of God if you have them. He will keep you in sin with them because he does not want you to experience the joy of being a child of God.
Jesus on the other hand was born for the purpose of destroying the works of the devil. By destroying the works of the devil, the benefits of the kingdom of God became available to you.
Some of these benefits were highlighted by King David in Psalms 103:1-5. They include healing, perfect peace of mind, prosperity (spirit, soul and body) and the list goes on of all your benefits in Christ Jesus.
What’s Christmas to you?
We do celebrate Christmas because we are celebrating that victory of Christ Jesus over the devil and his works on earth.
We are the ones to whom Christ Jesus has given the task of enforcing that victory here on earth. That is our responsibility as His followers.
His last command to every believer in Him is what we should be living for on the earth. He said:
… “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.””
Mark 16:15-18 NKJV
Are you a believer in Christ Jesus? Then you ought to be living as He commanded you to be living.
Do not forget that one day your life on earth will come to an end. What will you give as an excuse for not obeying His command, when you meet Him face to face in eternity?
As you celebrate Christmas this year, note that these last words of Jesus are His last command on earth to you, before He ascended physically into heaven. What are you going to do about it now? Obey Him or just keep on living for yourself?
Be grafted into Christ.
As you’re celebrating this Christmas the words of the Apostle Paul to the Romans are very important, for you not to keep on fulfilling the lust of the flesh in religious or social orgies:
“And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?”
Romans 11:23-24 NKJV
Jesus is coming back again, just as He promised. This is not a prank or a religious conspiracy theory. It is the gospel truth.
Eternity with God is real, just as eternity in hell is real as well. We only get to decide to follow Jesus, while we still have the “light life” available to us here on earth.
Where are you planning to spend your eternity? The choice is yours today.
But my candid advice to you is for you to “get yourself engrafted in the Branch”, just as the Apostle Paul said in the above statement.
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Jesus said the same thing with a clearer tone when He said:
“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. “I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.”
John 15:4-7 NKJV
A decision to abide in Christ is a decision to be engrafted into Him for eternity. Jesus explained further the benefit of abiding in Him:
“Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.””
John 8:31-32 NKJV
Choose life today so that the light life of God may abide in you and make you free forever.
Have a JOYOUS, GLORIOUS AND CHRISTMAS!
