December 20, 2023

Why Celebrate Christmas?

By Steve Hearts

Like many people, I enjoy and look forward to the Christmas season every year. No other season reminds me more of the great love God had for us in sending His only Son to give us eternal salvation.

Over the years, I’ve run into people who profess that it’s wrong for believers to observe the Christmas holiday. Of course, every person has a right to their opinions and convictions, and to celebrate Christmas or not is a matter of personal choice. In this article, I want to share my reasons for valuing and appreciating the Christmas season—along with the scriptural basis that I believe supports them.

For starters, if we were to miss out on this special opportunity to celebrate and commemorate the love shown to us by God and His Son, we would be depriving ourselves of an opportunity to celebrate the joy that comes from being saved and knowing Jesus. Some of the most meaningful opportunities to lead people to the Lord have come my way during Christmas celebrations. One of my earliest Christmas memories is from the year we spent the holidays with my grandparents and aunt. With the help and direction of my parents, the three of us boys put on a simple Christmas program for our relatives on Christmas Eve.

That same night, my grandfather prayed with me to receive Jesus. Before he passed away about 15 years later, he thanked me for leading him to the Lord and said that particular Christmas was the most meaningful one he’d ever known.

One argument used as a reason not to observe the Christmas holiday is that there’s no biblical record of Jesus’ birth date. True enough. We aren’t told exactly what time of year Jesus was born. Yet we can be absolutely certain that He was born, coming to earth to redeem us and give us life. The Bible also tells us that Christ’s birth was an occasion for much joy and happiness. The angels themselves praised and glorified God, and the shepherds were allowed to witness and share in this joy and celebration. (See Luke 2:8–14.)

I once knew a blind man who was an orphan. Because of this, he’d never found out exactly when his birthday was. So he chose a certain date as his birth date, and it was accepted by the government and used on all his legal documents.

“The fact that the date is not exact doesn’t matter to me,” he told me. “What’s important is that I have something to celebrate and look forward to every year, just like anyone else.”

Why should lack of certainty regarding dates keep us from indulging in the immeasurable joy that the celebration of the birth of Jesus can bring?

“Okay,” some may argue. “But often the traditional celebration of Christmas in today’s world does not honor, let alone commemorate, the birth of Christ.”

True again. Many attributes of the celebration of Christmas omit the celebration or even the mention of Jesus rather than honor it. The giving of gifts, for example, was meant to symbolize God’s precious gift to us—that of His Son who loves and saves us. The real spirit of Christmas is the giving of ourselves in the service of others. Today many people waste money on material things, while neglecting to care for those who are truly destitute and in need.

In the song “The Christmas Shoes,” performed by New Song, a man tells of having stood in a long line at a store just before Christmas, trying to finish his last-minute shopping. A little boy stood in front of him, dressed in worn and tattered clothes with an anxious look on his face. He held a pair of shoes in his hand. He turned to the man standing in line and told him he wanted to buy the shoes for his mother, who would soon meet Jesus.

The boy gave the pennies he had to the cashier, who told him it wasn’t enough. He then looked imploringly at the man and asked him what he should do. The man in return helped the boy buy the shoes.

As the song goes,

I knew I’d caught a glimpse of heaven’s love
As he thanked me and ran out.
I knew that God had sent that little boy to remind me
What Christmas is all about.

Another issue people raise is regarding the Christmas tree tradition. Some people believe that the Christmas tree is idolatrous, based on these words recorded in the book of Jeremiah: “For the practices of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel. They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter. Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field, their idols cannot speak; they must be carried because they cannot walk” (Jeremiah 10:3–5).

The mention of “idols” in these scriptures addresses the direct worship of trees. However, the Christmas tree tradition does not include worshipping, fearing, or praying to Christmas trees. We are meant to enjoy God’s creation and its beauty. Revelation 4:11 says, “You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created.”

The Christmas tree can also symbolize the task we’ve been given as believers to shine Jesus’ light in a dark and lonely world. As a kid, I performed this little song time and again:

I’d like to be a Christmas tree
With lots of colored lights on me.
I’d shine my stars so bright above,
To tell the world of Jesus’ love.

If we were to bypass the Christmas season, it would mean doing away with Christmas carols, which bring so much joy and celebrate the wonder of God’s gift to all humankind through Jesus. Granted, many songs for the Christmas season don’t honor Christ. But there are also many beautiful carols that have been passed down over the centuries and have touched the lives of millions.

One of these is “O Holy Night.” When my mother was in the hospital during her last few weeks of life, a group of carolers from our church went to visit her. They asked her which carol she wanted them to sing and she requested “O Holy Night.” She also insisted I sing with them. They were glad for this, since this song wasn’t on their list of well-practiced carols.

They passed me the guitar and I played the song. Considering that it had not been rehearsed, it came out wonderfully—with harmonies that blended beautifully. One of the hospital staff members said, “That sounded truly angelic.”

Although Mom was too weak to talk much, I was later told that throughout the song, she was smiling radiantly. (I was told of her smile, as I am blind.) Since then, that song has always held special significance for me. I also think it best describes what the shepherds must have felt when they heard the voices of the angels. They probably did indeed “fall on [their] knees.”

In today’s world, Christmas celebrations are often extravagant, shallow, and lacking in meaning. But I can still remember the year I was four, when our family lived in India as missionaries. Given the small percentage of Christians there, the Christmas spirit wasn’t visible everywhere we went. Yet that didn’t stop us and our team of missionary families from enjoying the season. That celebration was far from extravagant, I’m not even sure if we had a tree. If decorations were used, they were certainly simple.

Whatever the celebration may have lacked materially, the joy and meaning we felt more than made up for it. I remember singing Christmas carols to honor the birth of our Savior together, and how I was filled with the true meaning and essence of the season.

As I think back on that simple yet joyous Christmas, I can’t help but try to imagine what the shepherds must have felt when, true to the angels’ word, they found Mary, Joseph, and newborn baby Jesus in the stable. Mary and Joseph didn’t decorate the stable or put up a tree in preparation for Jesus’ arrival. There was no big feast that day either. Nevertheless, the joy they felt over all the marvelous things that had happened must have been unprecedented.

No Christmas celebration today, no matter how well prepared or extravagant, could begin to match the excitement and happiness that was felt that day in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago. Nonetheless, circumstances permitting, we can celebrate the Christmas season and make a joyous occasion of it. God only asks that we do so for His glory. “Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).

At the Last Supper, when Jesus celebrated communion with His disciples, He told them, “Do this in remembrance of me” (1 Corinthians 11:24). The same criterion could be applied to Christmas, as the celebration of His birth.

The Lord loves it when we rejoice and celebrate in His honor, commemorating the true meaning of Christmas and helping others to do the same. Paul says, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4). I believe that the Lord wants to see us celebrate God’s greatest gift to humankind that came about at His birth—especially if it’s done in His honor as it should be.

Adapted from a Just1Thing podcast, a Christian character-building resource for young people.

Posted in: christmas, guest contribution, joy, mission