Family Advent Devotional: The Virtues of Christmas Week 1

Soon, twinkling lights will decorate trees and homes across our land and signal that it is Christmastime again. The busy holiday season, while providing time off for many, fills a pastor’s calendar and creates more work to do. As pastors, we encourage our families to reflect upon the true meaning of Christmas using one of the many four-week Advent devotionals. Yet, we struggle to find the space in our schedule to take our own advice. By the time the calendar slows to a crawl in January, the Advent devotional we hoped to complete is pushed to next year.

The following series of reflections on the faith, hope, and love of Christmas is designed to give you, busy pastor, a short series of four devotions to share with your family this Advent. There are no crafts to complete, and no prep is needed. Simply read these four reflections that will help you teach your children the true meaning of Christmas this year.

We begin by helping you answer an important question. Why do we need Christmas?

Why Do We Need Christmas?

In the book The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the Pevensie children discover a perpetual winter on the other side of their wardrobe in a land called Narnia. Mr. Tumnus, a fawn and resident of Narnia, explains that the whole land is under a spell. Due to the work of the White Witch, it is “always winter but never Christmas.” A sadness blankets Narnia as the inhabitants hope for the return of the lion, Aslan, the true king who is prophesied to bring back the sun’s warmth, thaw the everlasting winter, and restore Christmas to the land.

C.S. Lewis’s story presents an allegory of our lives here on Earth. Our land is also under a curse, the curse of sin. While we still celebrate Christmas, its true meaning is lost to many families. Many people could not tell you the answer to the question, “Why do we need Christmas?”

The word “need” in the question, “Why do we need Christmas?” suggests that Christmas accomplishes something valuable and important. To understand why we “need” Christmas, we’ve got to explore the curse upon our land. Until the coming of the Lion of the tribe of Judah (Jesus) at the first Christmas to break the curse of sin, sin reigned over our world. For thousands of years, like the dead of winter, sin reigned, and it was never Christmas.

Things didn’t start out that way. For a season, it was just the opposite: God walked with Adam and Eve in a perfect world. It was Christmas every day! How could it be Christmas every day? Well, that is where the true meaning of Christmas comes into play. You need to know what makes Christmas, Christmas.

Christmas is more than decorations, presents, mistletoe, or even December 25th. Christmas, at its core, is about the coming of the Son of God to restore man’s fellowship with God. Adam and Eve’s sin broke their relationship with God and brought sin into the world. As a result, God cast them out of the garden, away from his presence. Though God banished them, he gave them a Christmas promise. One day a son would be born in their line who would break the curse and restore our fellowship with God. It is that fellowship with God that makes Christmas, Christmas.

After Adam and Eve’s fall, sin spread until the days of Noah, when God saw that “the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5). As a result, God judged the earth with a flood to wipe out the evil of sin. But God kept Noah and his family alive to ensure the family line of Adam so the Christmas promise of a Savior would not be lost.

God reaffirmed his promise through Abraham. The promised son of Adam would come through his family line. The winter season of sin reigned until God at last fulfilled his promise in the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem.

As an adult, Jesus fulfilled his mission to break the curse of sin. He took the sins of all God’s children upon himself. On the cross where Jesus died, God the Father poured out his punishment for those sins upon Jesus. But, because Jesus lived a perfect life, death could not hold him in the grave. Jesus rose victorious. Now all those who turn from their sin and trust in Jesus are forgiven and welcomed into fellowship with God. God pours out his Spirit into the hearts of everyone who believes.

Living with God is the key element of Christmas. Jesus came as Emmanuel—God with us—to cancel the curse of sin and restore our peace with God. Now, through the Holy Spirit, Jesus dwells within the heart of everyone who believes. For believers, every day is Christmas because we live with Jesus every day. Because of the coming of Jesus, we enjoy three Christmas virtues: faith, hope, and love.

These virtues can be seen in John 3:16, which is one of the greatest Christmas verses in the Bible. “For God so loved the world (love), that he gave his only Son (on Christmas), that whoever believes in him (faith) should not perish but have eternal life (hope)” (parenthetical additions mine).

In the upcoming weeks, we will study each of these Christmas virtues, starting with the greatest of all—love.