Christmas

One way to keep Jesus Christ in your Christmas celebrations is to have Jesus Christ present in your daily life. Keeping Christ in Christmas is more about the way you live your life than the things you say - such as "Merry Christmas" versus "Happy Holidays."

Keeping Christ in Christmas means daily praise, love and the spirit of Christ that dwells in you and by allowing these traits to shine through your actions. Here are some simple ways to keep Christ as the central focus of your life during this season.

1. Give God one very special gift from you and you alone.

Let this gift be something personal that no one else needs to know about, and let it be a sacrifice. David said in 2 Samuel 24 that he would not offer a sacrifice to God that cost him nothing. Your gift to God might be to forgive someone you have needed to forgive. You may discover that you've given a gift back to yourself.

Corrie Ten Boom, a Christian who survived extreme brutality in a German concentration camp after rescuing many Jews from certain death during the Nazi Holocaust, was later able to say, "Forgiveness is to set a prisoner free, and to realize the prisoner was you."
Perhaps your gift will be to commit to spending time with God daily. Or maybe there is something you should be giving up. Make this your most important gift of the season.

2. Set aside a special time to read the birth of Jesus in Luke 2:1-20.

Consider reading this with your family and discussing it together.

3. Set up a Nativity scene in your home.

4. Plan a project of good will this Christmas.

5. Take a group Christmas caroling to a nursing home, a children's hospital, group home or foster care centre.

6. Give a surprise gift of service to each member of your family.

Jesus taught us that it is "more blessed to give than to receive." Acts 20:35 (NIV)

7. Set aside a time of family devotion on Christmas eve or Christmas morning.

Before opening the gifts, take a few moments to gather together as a family in prayer and devotion. Read a few Bible verses and discuss as a family the true meaning of Christmas.

8. Attend a Christmas church service together with your family or invite friends and family over to acknowledge this time of year.

If you are alone this Christmas or do not have family living close by, invite a friend or a neighbor to join you.

9. Send Christmas cards that convey spiritual messages.

This is an easy way to share your faith at Christmas time. If you've already purchased your cards - no problem. Just write a Bible verse and include a personal message with each card.

10. Write a Christmas letter or send a Christmas card to our men and women overseas who are fighting for our PEACE throughout the world.

You can never do a kindness too soon,
for you never know how soon it will be too late.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~