A Simple Dollar Story

Oh Christmas, the time of the year when I feel most loved. Family members, friends, all sharing in long-time traditions that all serve to show that we care about one another. We gather in homes, eat delicious foods, and open well thought of gifts especially of our own. But isn't Christmas much more?

Throughout the rest of the year though, it can be hard to see the value in our lives. This season puts a good distraction in our thoughts, as we're busy with the twinkle and sparkle of Christmas. However, when January comes, those worthless thoughts often return. Steve Jensen once used a metaphor to describe the value of life. Think of a dollar--paper and ink. In of itself, it means nothing. It's just another slip of paper that has green ink on it. However, the piece of paper represents a treasure hidden far off. The dollar in and of itself means nothing, but what it represents means everything. Our lives are like that-- in and of myself, I'm just a girl. But what I represent is Christ. My worth does not come in myself, in the paper and ink, so to say, of my own. My worth comes in what I represent, what is represented through me.

That's where the real meaning of Christmas comes in. If what I represent as a Christian is Christ, then my life represents His. As so wonderfully stated by Sarah in the post below, Christmas isn't even just about the birth of Jesus. While that was wonderful miracle and declaration of God's love, it points to something much bigger. The whole point of Jesus' lowly birth was to bring Him to the Cross. That is where the meaning of Christmas lies. That is where the love and worth that Christmas brings lies. Christ came as a humble babe, ready for what He knew would come 33 years later. That is love.

"In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4:9-10 ESV)

As we go about the busyness that comes along with the Christmas season, I pray that each of us would look to Christ and the Cross at this time. I pray that we would place our worth and desire to be loved in the hands of God, because that's where He holds us. I pray that in this time, and in the long months of cold (at least for us mid-westerns!) that follow, we would find our worth in the One who chose to die for us. That is the Good News, the Gospel, that we so desperately need. And that is the real reason for the season.

Merry Christmas, and may you walk in His love this day!