Behold, a Child Is Born

By Andrew Beasley     It is that time of year again where the world begins to talk about the birthday of our savior, Jesus of Nazareth. You might see a bumper sticker on a car or two that read “Jesus is the reason for the Season” or “Keep Christ in Christmas.” When you read those statements, you might have the urge to talk about how Jesus was probably born sometime between March and May but certainly not in December. Maybe you will want to talk about how we were never instructed to remember Jesus’ birthday, and in fact Christ told us how He desires us to remember Him and it is through the memorial of the Lord’s Supper.     Let me encourage you to fight those urges. There is certainly a time and a place to have those discussions but let us not discourage anyone, at any point in time, for having their thoughts centered on Jesus. His birth is not something we should avoid talking about. Truly, His birth is something we should rejoice over because without Christ taking on flesh we would lose out on so much, not the least of which is a high priest who understands personally what the day-to-day life of being a human is like (Heb. 4:15-16).     Use these opportunities while the world is focused on Jesus to teach them about what He gave for them, regardless of what day He was born on, and rejoice with them that the Son of God took on flesh to become the sacrifice we desperately needed.

- Andrew Beasley serves as a minister with the Northwest Church of Christ in Greensboro, NC. He may be contacted through the congregation's website: https://nwchurchofchrist.com/about/