Christmas Sentiment

It's the Christmas season, and that means a lot of things to a lot of people. I heard a song on the radio yesterday about a little boy not having enough money to buy shoes for his sick mother. He wanted to buy them so she could look pretty for Jesus if she were to die that night. It was sentimental. In short, it was designed to elicit tears. Maybe some of you cried when you heard the song. That's all right. It means you have a tender heart.

But it makes me wonder: is the essence of Christmas sentimentality? Many sincere Christians revere Christmas traditions and Christmas reverie. We want music and musicals to make us misty. We want "inspiration." We are emotional creatures, created by God to respond to Him in worship with our whole being, emotions not excluded. But think about what Christmas is: a celebration of the birth of the Son of God, the birth of the incarnate Deity who came for the sole purpose of enduring the agonies and torture of the cross, spilling His blood to satisfy the just demands of God's law, all in love and grace and mercy toward an elect people whom He designed to save from their sins and create as a new humanity who would forever be filled with Him.

What is the Christian way to celebrate THAT birth? With sentiment roughly the consistency of chicken broth? With vague feelings of fuzzy warmth more akin to the feeling of a good pair of wool socks than true worship?

I want to suggest to you that our right response is not only feelings, but also worship - worship with our minds, our voices, our hands, our wills, and our very lives. May we respond to God in Christmas worship with Mary, the mother of our Lord. . . (Luke 1:46-47, 50, 53-55).

So I call you to worship the God and Father of our incarnate Lord Jesus in spirit and in truth. Sing to Him and praise Him and believe on Him with all you are.