Through the Eyes of Christmas: Keys to Unlocking the Spirit of Christmas in Your Heart

PREFACE

How do you get into the Christmas spirit? Each December, I face that same question as I prepare to teach my Sunday school class. I want to give my class something that will inspire them, something that will cause them to discover the spirit of Christmas in their lives each year. But how? What are the keys to unlocking Christmas Spirit?

Pastors must ask that same question as they prepare their Christmas sermons. What are they going to say that is inspired, anointed, and will make a real difference in the lives of their parishioners? And those parishioners are wondering what their pastor is going to say to get them in the Christmas spirit so they can enjoy, rather than just endure, the season (and their relatives).

As I studied the Christmas story, it wasn’t long before I began to discover that the secret to finding Christmas spirit lay in the lives of the first Christmas participants. Of course, Christmas had not been invented yet for Mary and Joseph. They were preparing for the arrival of Mary’s firstborn son—the Son of God. But everything that we celebrate at Christmas truly begins with the arrival of Jesus in our lives, so there must be something in their lives from which we can discern Christmas spirit.

Listening to coworkers and friends, I heard the disappointment in their voices as we talked about Christmas. Without Jesus in their celebration their Christmas was mostly about family, and if their family was gone (or estranged), what was the point? It really is true: if all we do is pull out the same decorations, put up the same tree in the same corner, with the same wreath on the same front door, we will get the same result—no lasting Christmas joy. Their disappointment is that you can do Christmas things but still fail to see Christmas spirit in your heart.

So I began to study Christmas through the eyes of the first Christmas story participants. What were they focused on that first Christmas and what do their lives teach us about finding the true spirit of Christmas in our own? Year after year I taught a new Christmas lesson with a new revelation of Christmas spirit. It wasn’t long before newer members of the class heard about previous Christmas lessons and wanted me to reteach those to them. But as you can imagine, there is just never enough time to go back and teach all of those lessons, so the idea of the book was born.

At its heart, Through the Eyes of Christmas is a series of Christmas Sunday school lessons (or if you prefer, Christmas sermons) that redirect our focus at Christmas. It reveals keys to unlocking the true spirit of Christmas in your heart by looking through the eyes of the first Christmas story participants.

But did you know Christmas is more than just Mary, Joseph, Jesus and the manger? There are shepherds who teach us about the joy of Christmas spirit when we share that message with others. There are wise men who teach us about worshipping which ushers in Christmas spirit. There are Simeon and Anna, who teach us you are never too old for Christmas. And since I teach an adult Sunday school class with many senior saints, that is one of their favorite Christmas lessons. There is Jairus, the ruler of the Capernaum synagogue who teaches us how to believe in Christmas. And let’s not forget Zachariah and Elizabeth who were expecting Christmas. You will just have to read that chapter to find out why.

Then there is that needful thing: Christmas dinner. And that lesson I learned from my beautiful wife. Like Martha’s cumbered about with much doing, our Christmas morning had slipped away, the guests for Christmas dinner would soon be here, and my wife was busy trying to do too much in the kitchen by herself. Yes, it was time to stop playing with the toys and help. The needful thing that Christmas was to help her bring the Christmas feast to the table so everyone, especially the cook, could enjoy the celebration of Jesus’ coming.

So go grab a cup of coffee, or tea, or hot chocolate, find your favorite chair, sit down and join me on a journey back into the lives and thoughts of Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, the innkeeper, wise men, and a few other specially placed Christmas people. As we look Through the Eyes of Christmas, we will discover the Biblical truths to birth in our hearts the true, lasting joy that comes with the spirit of Christmas. And when we are done you too will know how to keep Christmas well.

Ron Davis

CHAPTER 1

KEEPING CHRISTMAS WELL

Scrooge was better than his word…and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge.

CHARLES DICKENS

Ebenezer Scrooge. Fiction? Of course. But, what about keeping Christmas well? Is that also fantasy or perhaps just unachievable idealism? The idea of keeping Christmas well may cause some to echo Scrooge’s familiar refrain: Bah, humbug!

But I do love the feeling of joy that comes especially at Christmas. This Christmas spirit is not the secularized concept that the television advertisers have of Christmas. Nor is it the merchandised, tinsel-wrapped idea the retailers want to sell you. Christmas spirit is a lasting joy birthed in faith when you choose to believe in the true spirit of Christmas.

The true spirit of Christmas is not some ghostly visitation that appeared to Ebenezer Scrooge. The true spirit of Christmas is an indescribable joy that emanates from deep within you. It starts when you accept the true meaning of Christmas and apply it to your heart. It is an inexplicable peace that floods your soul and like a rising tide lifts your spirit, regardless of the chaos or confusion that may surround your everyday life.

When you keep Christmas well, the spirit of Christmas changes your attitude; it bubbles up from within you and puts a smile on your face and a spring in your step–especially at Christmas time. It is commonly seen during the month of December on the faces of those who believe. But the real truth is that the true spirit of Christmas is a gift that can be carried with you throughout the year.

Whether we will admit it to ourselves or not, we all yearn for that true spirit of Christmas in our hearts and homes each year. We truly wish our Christmas to be one of peace on earth and goodwill towards men just like the angel announced to the shepherds. But after the shopping, spending, decorating, wrapping and relatives, many times our Christmas experience is far from peaceful and there is little goodwill to go around.

And each Christmas season, we promise ourselves that this year will be different. This year we will have a perfect Christmas with true Christmas spirit. The problem, of course, is how do you find that perfect spirit of Christmas? And once it is found, how do you keep from losing it?

Think back for a moment to your best Christmas memory as a little child. Do you remember those Christmas feelings of awe and anticipation that you had? Deep inside, we all long to recapture the innocence and wonder we felt as a little child at Christmas. But how can you experience that again? How can you experience the real joy of the Christmas season?

I am not talking about that feeling of fleeting happiness that some equate with Christmas joy. I want the joy that infects the true spirit of Christmas. I want an everlasting joy that gives true meaning to Christmas and carries you throughout the year. I want the kind of joy that keeps Christmas well.

It is easy to let the hustle and bustle that accompanies Christmas drown out the Christmas carol we hear in our heart. The Jingle Bell march toward a secular Christmas seems to have become the standard. Retailers use Christmas to balance their books for the year. To the retailer, Christmas is just another shopping season for selling. And each year, they seem to start the selling earlier. It is no longer just the day after Thanksgiving that the selling begins; no, now the super-duper, six-hour-only sales start Thanksgiving evening. For many merchants, the Christmas trees, lights, and decorations go up the day after Halloween!

Regrettably, far too many people will buy the secularized version of Christmas that the retailers sell them. Far too many people will just settle for the same old Christmas. They will ‘do’ Christmas as they have done in years past. No real, lasting Christmas joy will abound in their heart. They have no true understanding of why we are celebrating the season. They will do, but will not see Christmas this year.

This is how many will celebrate Christmas. Gifts will be bought and wrapped to place under a Christmas tree. The house will be decorated as in years past with the same lights and same tree in the same place. Cookies will be baked. Parties will be held. School concerts will be attended. Relatives will be entertained or at least endured. They might even make it to church once on Christmas Eve–if for no other reason–so they do not have to lie to their mother when she calls. When Christmas day comes, they will open presents, clean up the mess of wrapping paper, put away all the decorations, and wonder what all the work was for. Because in all that they are doing, they will once again miss seeing the joy of Christmas.

They will miss the spirit of Christmas because what produces the joy and wonder in our heart is not created by the mere doing of Christmas. True Christmas joy does not just happen in our heart because we pulled out and put up all of the Christmas trappings to adorn our home. For those who believe, the things we do at Christmas happen because true Christmas spirit has already been birthed in our heart. It is the spirit of Christmas that gives meaning to what we do.

So how can we get the spirit of Christmas to reside in our hearts and homes this season? The answer comes in the form of a question: What are you focusing on at Christmas? With all the distractions that will come during the Christmas Season–some good and some perhaps not so good–are you focused on seeing what is truly important for Christmas?

Make no mistake, the world will try to distract you from focusing on the true reason we celebrate Christmas. When it comes to Christmas decorations for your house, have you noticed the store shelves are full of lights, wreaths, and inflatable Santas, but few sell Nativity scenes for your front yard? The reason seems clear: the world wants you to compromise and conform to their secularized version of Christmas. They want you to coexist with how they view Christmas. If you must celebrate, they want you to celebrate Christmas their secularized way. They want you to say Happy Holidays’ rather than say Merry Christmas.

And we know why. They are worried saying ‘Christmas’ will emphasize Christ. The world does not want to acknowledge that Jesus Christ is the only true reason for the Christmas season. But it is the birth of Jesus that we celebrate, not the birth of Santa Claus. In fact, the celebration of Christmas started in the church as the Mass of Christ. The name was simply shortened to Christmas. We are not celebrating the coming of holidays, we are celebrating the coming of Christ.

But, the world wants you to believe