What Christmas is All About
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Lucas: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Living for His Glory podcast. I'm your host, Lucas Barrett. As a college student studying pastoral ministry, spreading the word and making disciples of all nations is my ultimate mission. I have a deep but still expanding knowledge of scripture and understand overlooked perspectives and theologies that can provide deep meaning for your life.
Sometimes I talk about these scriptures and theologies on my own, but other times I interview some people from my vast network and discuss a topic they're passionate about and their own life experiences that may help you in your own spiritual journey. Whether you're a new Christian, a growing Christian, or someone who doesn't even believe in God, this podcast is for you.
Be sure to follow and subscribe to this podcast as we navigate what it means to live for His glory. Let's get started.
What is Christmas all about? Hope, peace, joy, love, family, gifts, giving, Santa Claus? This is what [00:01:00] our culture has encouraged us to think through homework movies and other Christmas movies ~and, ~and all the whatever kind of social media ~and the, ~and ~the~ whatever else. ~This, this is what we think of. ~These are what we think of as what Christmas is all about.
Now these are not bad concepts. I love so many of these different concepts. They are things that we should be thinking about. They are amazing things that bring people together in a tight knit, amazing, and joyful community. In fact, a lot of these qualities stem from what Christmas really is all about, and that is Jesus.
At the end of the day, it really is all about Jesus. How could it not be? The center of the Christmas life, the center of the Christmas season, has always been and always will be about Jesus. A lot of these qualities came from Jesus. In fact, the Advent calendar, ~the Christmas, it's~ the church Christmas calendar, [00:02:00] is based on the first four things I listed.
Hope, peace, joy, and love. These are all the name Sundays of the Christian Advent calendar. So why am I calling these qualities out? What could I possibly have against them? It's a simple answer. Absolutely nothing. I have nothing against these. I've loved These qualities. I love these traditions. They are some of my favorite things in the world.
~Like when I was like,~ I still enjoy going or going around and seeing my family and having Christmas parties and hanging out ~and ~And loving on them. I love doing that I love getting gifts for them. I love the gifts that they give me. ~It's, ~it's super awesome. I love it so much. I even love Santa Claus and I didn't even love Santa Claus.
I just do love Santa Claus. It's been such a great part of growing up, ~you know, excited.~ There's nothing quite like that excitement when I was seven years old and I woke up earlier than I [00:03:00] did for school to rush downstairs and see Santa Claus. Santa left presents. I go in my parents room and wake up, Mom, Dad, Santa came.
Santa came. There is no better feeling than Christmas morning when I was growing up. And there's still very few better feelings than Christmas morning now at 20 years old. There is nothing inherently bad about these things. ~The only, ~the only reason that any of these things could ever be bad is when they're not in their intended place.
Think about it. How can anything really be good if it's used for something it is not intended for? I've already said it multiple times. These are amazing qualities of Christmas. They're qualities of Christmas. Not the core of it. They're aspects of Christmas that are amazing and good. But they are not the reason behind it.
~They are not what Christmas is. ~God has given us some amazing gifts, such as these [00:04:00] qualities, but also gifts within me and you. Gifts that we can use to help the world. Gifts that He wants us to use in our lives to glorify Him. But that's the catch, to glorify Him. ~Whenever these gifts are not, whenever these gifts are put before Him instead of for Him.~
Whenever these gifts~ are used,~ are not used for Him, but are instead put before Him. That is when they become bad. That is when they become some kind of source of evil. The worship of something not God is evil, even if that is the worship of one of His gifts that He has given us. The Christmas story found in Luke chapter 2 doesn't tell the story ~of Jesus.~
about being with family, giving each other gifts. It sure doesn't mention putting up a tree and waiting for Santa Claus to come down the chimney. This is a story about Jesus. Yes, gifts were a part of the story. Yes, Family was a part of this story. The birth of the family ~of Jesus, ~of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.
They were a family. Yes, [00:05:00] that's a part of it, but that's not what the story is about. This is the story about the birth of our Messiah, who will one day save us from our broken world. ~That's what, ~that's what Christmas is all about. ~That, ~that is why we have so many of these things. That's why we have these qualities such as hope.
That's an amazing source of hope. How can you not be joyous when you think about this? How can you not have peace ~when you think about,~ when you think about Jesus and what he means for us ~when we, when we, ~when we have been brought here? How could you not feel the love? Of Jesus when we think about this story about his Story this christmas story.
~I don't know we should~
Savor these qualities ~savor those qualities~ Within this christmas season and remember why we have it in the first place We keep coming back to the source keep remembering why we have this season in the first place And the reason for that is This is [00:06:00] Jesus. Enjoy these qualities, savor these qualities, love on these traditions and enjoy,~ um, the, ~the amazement that they bring to us ~as we, ~as we work together and grow tighter in a community together.
Remember that. Feel that. Enjoy that. But also still remember that this season is about Jesus, ~and~ our Savior, ~and that,~ and remembering that He came down to us to save us from our broken world. Merry Christmas, everybody.
Thank you for listening to another episode of the Living for His Glory podcast. I hope you gained some terrific insights and knowledge about what it means to live for God's glory and more about His character. If you enjoyed this video, please make sure to press the like button and subscribe if you want to continue watching and hear more about God and how we can live for His glory.
Have a great day, my friends, and I'll see you next time.
