Christmas excites many and rightly so. But there is NOBODY who ought to find it more exciting than the one who has a personal relationship with the Babe who was born in a manger. It is the growing relationship one has with Him that makes Christmas a 365 days a year celebration.

Christmas for others may end at midnight on December 25, but Christmas for the believer who continues to draw closer to Christ never ends. Why and how?

The answer is contained in three verses in 1 John 4:9-11. There we read, “In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
What truths are contained in those verses that make Christmas most exciting for the person for whom Jesus Christ has become his personal Savior and closest friend?

I. God had a major purpose in sending His Son.

That purpose was not merely that we might forget the problems of the past year and look forward to a new year. It was so much bigger and better than that. It was “that we might live through Him.”

Living a good life, going to church, or even being baptized will not change our eternal destiny. We are sinners who deserve to be forever separated from God because of our sin. But Jesus came and took the punishment that we deserved, died in our place on a cross as our substitute and rose again, so that we could receive the free gift of eternal life. As we are told in Acts 4:12, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Eternal life is not obtained through anything we do, but through what He has already done. When we trust Christ alone to save us, we are as certain of heaven as though we are already there. For the growing believer that becomes increasingly meaningful and exciting.

That in itself is Christmas 365 days a year!

II. Our relationship with Him is not grounded in how much we love Him but how much He loved us.

What could be more exciting than not having to “manufacture” more love for Him but instead focusing on how much He loved us?

We did not initiate the love relationship with God. He did! First John 4:10 says so clearly, “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

Many people try to “earn” His love – a love that was already expressed when He became the propitiation for our sins. Propitiation means “satisfaction.” He satisfied the wrath of God against our sin by dying as our substitute. Therefore, I can concentrate on how much He loved me even when my love for Him is not what it ought to be.

That is unconditional love at its best! My relationship with Him is grounded in how He feels towards me not how I ought to feel towards Him. That thought alone is an overwhelming truth to live by.

III. It is His love for me that moves me to love anyone anywhere.

The Babe born in a manger became the Savior of the world. But once again, His coming and dying (all based on His love) is why we “ought to love one another” as verse eleven concludes. If He so loved me, I ought to love others. In fact, I ought to love anyone anywhere.

Many people have been and will be a major disappointment. Promises will be broken, false accusations made, situations misrepresented. But if what I, too, have done does not change His feelings towards me, that ought to motivate me not to let those things impact my feelings towards others.

Conclusion

To me, those three items make Christmas so exciting. And it all surrounds the Babe who was born in a manger. When I think of what His birth accomplished, I experience Christmas 365 days a year. What He demonstrated and accomplished through His birth cannot be bought in a department store or found in a church. It is only found in the One who was born in a manger.

Reflecting on that makes Christmas a daily experience, not a yearly event.