<\/p>\n
I have to admit, I love Christmas- there is so much to love about it! Christmas can mean different things to each of us; for me Christmas has very good memories. Even before I was a Christian, I knew there was something different about Christmas. There was always a warmth and gentleness about it. For others, Christmas can mean a whole lot of things: presents, cards, family time, snow, carols, church, the nativity, christmas trees, lights, Santa, holidays etc. Yet for some it can be a sad time, lonely, cold and dark.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Over the past few years I have noticed more people say that \u201cChristmas is too commercialised now\u2019, and that it doesn\u2019t mean what it used to. In 2013, the Christian band, Sidewalk prophets, wrote a Christmas song called \u2018Give Me Christmas\u2019 with a chorus expressing that feeling. It begins with\u2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the lights and the toys<\/span> <\/p>\n I think deep down we all know, that as nice as all the decorations and festivities are, and as wonderful it is to get all we wanted wrapped in shiny paper, there must be more. \u00a0The chorus continues… <\/p>\n What Christmas really means is love. That might sound a little cheesy or corny, but it is true. And it\u2019s the word CHRIST in Christmas that tells us this because we received the greatest gift that could ever be given\u2026.Jesus. Jesus was sent to earth as a fragile baby, in a place fit only for animals, so He could be the everything we need- the perfect love of God.<\/p>\n \n Romans 5:8 explains how God demonstrates His own love for us all: \u201cWhile we were still sinners, Christ died for us.\u201d While we were all far from Him, he made a way to himself, while we ignored or rejected him, he sought us out and became the one and only pass that is accepted to get into Heaven. This was a gift we could never buy, earn or even deserve by ourselves. Christmas is love because it\u2019s about Christ, and God\u2019s love for us. The Father sent Jesus to be the sacrifice that we could not bring, for the sin we could not escape from, to give us the forgiveness we did not deserve.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I hope we all see the CHRIST in Christmas this year. Accept the perfect gift of the Father\u2019s perfect love and be true followers of Jesus. His love shared through us can give hope, grant peace and bring healing to the lonely, hurting and broken. Then people will truly know that Christmas really does mean love.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I have to admit, I love Christmas- there is so much to love about it! Christmas can mean different things to each of us; for me Christmas has very good memories. Even before I was a Christian, I knew there was something different about Christmas. There was always a warmth and gentleness about it. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9599,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christmas","category-church"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/elegant-germain.77-68-99-159.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/elegant-germain.77-68-99-159.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/elegant-germain.77-68-99-159.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elegant-germain.77-68-99-159.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elegant-germain.77-68-99-159.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/elegant-germain.77-68-99-159.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elegant-germain.77-68-99-159.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/elegant-germain.77-68-99-159.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elegant-germain.77-68-99-159.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elegant-germain.77-68-99-159.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/span>Bring us joy<\/span>
\n<\/span>In the end, it\u2019s just not enough\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/span>\u201cCause what we really need<\/span>
\n<\/span>And what Christmas really means is love<\/span>
\n<\/span>Give me Christmas, give me Christmas.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n