TO CHRISTIANS like me, the main message of Christmas is the affirmation and reaffirmation of our faithfulness to God and His only son Jesus – so we may be able to live, work and pray like Jesus.
The “Word made flesh and dwelt among us...” (John 1:14), signifies God’s love for us, His great reconciliation with us, to return to His holiness and greatness, by taking on His son Jesus as model of holiness and Christian being.
What was Jesus' main reason for being? To be His father’s instrument of love, reconciliation, holiness, rejection of all evils that betrayed God and ultimately the Kingdom building where all those who profess to Him shall live as one with Him in the new heaven and new earth.
This is actually a great reminder and challenge to all Christians. We have to grasp this essential and foundation of our Christian life – live, work and pray like Jesus.
Like Jesus, we have to live with all simplicity, frugality and humility, free of jealousy, envy, greed and an insatiable desire for selfishness.
Like Jesus, we have to work not for our selfish interests, for physical ends, but for Kingdom building, which is to end all chaos, divisions, greed, killings, plunder and destruction, and inhumanity of beings to beings, and return everyone and everything to Him.
Like Jesus, we have to pray all the time. In our happy moments, we have to praise God, in our difficult moments, seek God, in our quiet moments, worship God, in our painful moments, trust God, and every moment, thank God.
All this we can apply wherever we are and whatever is our position in this earthly life.
If we forget our Christian foundations, our reason for being, and just allow ourselves to be preoccupied with what’s going on, what’s developing around us, who is doing this and that, and all sorts of stressful fears, scenarios and challenges, we would just end up helpless and hopeless.
John 3:16 must always remind us of God’s love for us, for God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that everyone who believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
And being a Christian simply means we have to live, work and pray like Jesus, in our real world, and always be ready to die for the consequences of being so.