“All I want for
Christmas is you” picks up on a very common theme as a lot of
Christmas songs are about being with loved ones or like this one
missing them. Whether they're 'driving home for Christmas', or
asking someone to 'please come home for Christmas'; counting 'five more nights' or are having a 'blue Christmas' people can't help
singing about loved ones at Christmas. And the heartache of a broken
relationship 'last Christmas' or of the 'fairytale of New York' gone
wrong seems much worse at Christmas.
This is because there
is something about Christmas that makes us focus on what truly
matters. Unlike the superficial singer of “Santa Baby”, the
singer of “All
I want for Christmas is you” won't be made happy by presents, toys
or even snow. Her only wish is the presence of her loved one for
Christmas. And when we reflect on what truly matters in life the
answer is often loving and being loved.
It's
no surprise that this is a major theme of Christmas given that the
reason for the season is, as Christina Rossetti wrote, that 'love
came down at Christmas'. News of the birth of any baby is usually a
cause for celebration and feelings of love, but that can't explain
the enduring appeal of Christmas which can't even be completely
obscured by all the glitz and commercialism.
The birth of Jesus is on a completely different scale to any other
birth because it is a sign of God's love for us: “This is how God
showed his love among us: he sent his one and only Son into the world
that we might live through him” (1 John 4:9).
But Jesus isn't like a
Christmas present that is just a token of love that is greatly
appreciated when it is given, but soon becomes ordinary. The gift of
Jesus is not just God-with-us but God-for-us: Jesus came not just to
be a wise teacher and an example of how to live, but so that he could
be “an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:10) by his death
on the cross. Through his teaching and his example we see how far
short of God's standard we fall short, and that our failures mean
that we deserve eternal punishment and eternal separation from God:
but that's not much of a present! “God did not send his Son into
the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him”
(John 3:17). So after showing us the depths of our sin, he showed us
the heights of his love: “For God took the sinless Christ and
poured into him our sins. Then, in exchange, he poured God’s
goodness into us!” (2 Corinthians 5:21 TLB).
Christmas songs and films often describe of the lengths that people
will go to and the sacrifices they will make to be with their loved
ones at Christmas. This is a small reflection of the lengths that
God went to so we can be with him for eternity. All God wants for
Christmas is you. So, if you want to be truly loved this Christmas
come to God, confess your sins and receive his forgiveness through
Jesus' atoning sacrifice. It's a Christmas present that will last
for eternity!
No comments:
Post a Comment