For most people Christmas is a wonderful time of year, if not the best time of year. Children can’t wait to see what goodies are coming their way, not to mention they have a couple weeks reprieve from the toils of school work. Extended families often gather together for good meals, reminiscing, and exchanging gifts. Christmas is also a time for parents and children to spend extra time together as they enjoy a few days off from the normal routine of life in the fast lane. For many families, though, this gift of time is a missed opportunity to connect on a deeper level.
For followers of Jesus, Christmas is the perfect opportunity to “zero in” our focus on the greatest gift ever given. Too many parents fill the Christmas season with everything except opportunities to invest in the disciple making of their children. God gave you your children to raise them, for sure, but the main reason He gave you your children was to make disciples out of them. Children do not need their parents to be Bible scholars; they simply need them to consistently point them to the cross of Christ. Christmas, for Jesus, was a step in the direction of cross on which he would eventually give his life to ransom our life. The Bible tells us that Jesus had a singular mission “to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). That mission began in a manger but led straight to a cross.
Whether you are a parent, grandparent, aunt, or uncle, please take the time this Christmas season to point a child, a teenager, or anyone to Jesus. Don’t let this season pass without letting “your light shine before others” (Matthew 5:16).