December is one of my favorite months of the year. Often, when I reflect on what makes December feel Christmasy, part of it has to do with the lights at night. I see them everywhere, at shopping centers or all the houses that go all out for Christmas. (By the way, the shops at the university crossing on Nevada and Austin Bluffs look amazing right now.) part of it is the cold weather with a chance of snow. But what makes December the most Christmasy has to be the music. The beautiful melodies, borrowed chords, and minor notes make Christmas sound unique. Even though there are 10,000 different versions of the same song, it is still fun to listen to most of them. Christmas music is so much fun and can be so powerful. But the most powerful Christmas songs remind us of Jesus.

There are so many layers to Jesus’ birth. To think that Jesus was born of a virgin and dwelled among us blows me away. The fact that he left his throne in heaven and became our Emmanuel. (God with us) Jesus, being fully God, became one of us. He was in a perfect place without sin, basking in the glory of His Father, and yet he obeyed His Father’s plan to redeem humanity from the plague of sin. Jesus came down and dwelt in the same king of flesh and bones that we do. And though he was fully God, he was born in the most humbling places. A stable. What kind of innkeeper turns away a pregnant woman? Was he like, hey Joesph, I know that this King Herod guy made you walk a long way to be registered, and it looks like your wife is Super Pregnant and all, but y’all can stay in my barn because I'm not going to see if anyone is okay to share a room for a night. And I am definitely not giving you my room. How was there no courtesy for them? But still, Jesus was born in a manger. The world did not have room for the one who came to save it.

The main piece of the Christmas Story that will inevitably make me cry at some point is to think about the end of Jesus’ story. Jesus was born to die. That was his mission. Jesus didn’t come to Earth and dwell among us for a nice vacation. His purpose was to live the perfect life that we couldn’t. Every single person sins at some point in their early life and continues to. We have no hope to live perfectly or good enough because one little sin still separates us from God, and we are responsible for paying the price of that sin. And each person is full of sinful moments. And as Romans 6:23a reminds us, “The wages of sin is death.” We earn death by sinning. We deserve to die and to be separated from God. But God was born to die in our place. So that he could offer us a gift. The second part of Romans 6:23b is a beautiful promise. It says, “But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” This was the purpose of Jesus coming. He was to taste death for sinners so that we don’t have to. Hebrews 2:9-10 says, “But was see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.”

The power of Christmas is to realize that this baby we focus on grows up to become our savior. He would die in our sinful place but beat death by coming back to life. Jesus did all this so that we can have salvation, forgiveness, and freedom from sin. Romans 10:9 says, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

One of my all-time favorite Christmas songs is called, “I Celebrate The Day.” By Relient K. The song reminds me of the theme that Jesus was born to die. The chorus lyrics are:

And the first time that You opened Your eyes

Did You realize that You would be my Savior

And the first breath that left Your lips

Did You know that it would change this world forever

The ending lyrics are:

And I

I celebrate the day

That You were born to die

So I could one day pray for You to save my life

Those are some wonderful lyrics to sing each year because it helps me think about this sweet baby who was born to become the perfect, sinless Savior. He grew up to change the world by offering freedom from sin so that you might be saved. So I can celebrate the day that I did pray for Jesus to save my life. Have you received the Free Gift of Salvation? If so, then this Christmas, celebrate his birth with thankfulness for your salvation.