What Do You Want from Christmas?

What will you receive for Christmas?

“For to us a child is born, To us a son is given…” Isaiah 9:6

Hold on one second—before the kids start tearing into those gifts someone so lovingly wrapped with the color-coordinated ribbons and paper…before the dogs dive in to the pool of paper piled high… What do you want for Christmas? Or, no—better question, “What do you want from Christmas?”

Great Expectations

Because if there’s one thing the Bible tells us about Christmas, it’s that we should gorge ourselves on great expectations, that our longings, are not, as C.S. Lewis put it, too deep, but perhaps too shallow:

“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

And if there were ever a time to discover how shallow our desires can be, it might just be Christmas.

Are our desires too shallow?

We give and receive scarves and shoes and gadgets and goodies to celebrate the fact that God gave us… His SON? No, make that—the life—of his Son? His Son’s life in exchange for my sins? Really? Not only that. He gave us light.

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.” Isaiah 9:2, ESV

We are that people. We were stumbling along in fog made thick, air made dank-dark by our blearing sin. At just the right time, Jesus showed up on the doorstep of our heart, delivered by none other than God himself. Not only that. He gave us joy.

“You have multiplied the nation and increased its joy.” Isaiah 9:3, ESV

Joy is common at Christmas. Or at least lots of cheer made cheerier at times by holiday cheer. If not joy, there is holly, jolly happiness—at least, for some lucky folks, especially the ones in Hallmark movies. Joy is different. The joy God gave us seeps down deep, sends a thrill through our bones and a chill to our bumps. It’s there when we’re sitting at the hospital bed of our beloved after a devastating stroke; it’s there when our boss tells us she’s so sorry about the layoffs; it’s there when our daughter’s depression returns. It’s the solid, unshakeable belief that one day all will be well again because of the gift God gave us on Christmas day. His Son. The life of his Son for the price of our sins. Not only that. He gave us the King. Not a King. The King.

“Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and uphold it with justice and righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.” Isaiah 9:7, ESV

It’s a safe bet not many Americans asked for an increase of our government for Christmas. Right now, most of us would trade our elected officials in for a Dolly Madison donut. But this—this manger-King—his government will one day terminate the strife and bitterness? This King will reign with justice and righteousness? Everything is fair, and all is right. Silent night, holy night. All is calm. All is bright. No more oppression or abuse, and all lives matter to the Prince of Peace and to his people. Yes, this will be true fully and finally, one day. We could go on like this all day, but you have gifts to unwrap. Just take one more moment with me to take in, to fully receive God’s extravagant gift, the only one you’ll get today that will satisfy your longings forever.

A Prayer about Expecting Great Things from Jesus

Gracious God, May our jaws drop in awe at the exquisite perfection of your wildly extravagant Christmas gift. Lead our eyes to stare in stunned wonder at The King you sent, once lying there in a feeding trough. Let our hearts warm as we drink in the effervescent joy of your perfect peace. In the name of our precious Manger-King we pray, Amen. Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash