Are you tired of the way Christmas is being commercialized? Do you resent the fact that Christ is being taken out of Christmas? Do you protest the mad pace we follow in making Christmas merely a gift-exchange celebration? Would you like to see Christ put back into Christmas, and would you like to help do it? If you feel as deeply moved about this as I do, then I urge you to join me in believing that this year can be the best Christmas ever.

1. Just stop a moment and remember what Christmas Day commemorates.
Just remember whose birthday it is, and what it should mean to you now and in eternity. On this day, over 1900 years ago, a baby was born. Not just a baby, for he was the Christ-child. Mark this baby well, for one day these little hands will lift empires off their hinges, change the course of history, cause time to date forward and backward from the day of his birth, meet Satan face to face and defeat him, shed his blood for your sins, rise from the dead, ascend back to Heaven, sit on God’s right hand and give life and gifts to man. Yes, Christmas is a birthday––it is the birth of something new for you.

2. Go to your mirror and take a look at yourself.
Christmas reminds you that you are worth more than you think. Like me perhaps, you can see things in your mirror that you like and dislike, but that is not the point. When you look at yourself, just remember one thing, that Christmas is extremely personal. If you had been the only one in the whole world, Jesus Christ of Nazareth would have come into the world to save you. God thought you were worth his son. Christmas should really mean something special to you this year, because it reminds you that you are worth more than you think.

3. This Christmas, decide to think thoughts of faith instead of thoughts of fear.
Christmas should not be a time for brooding, worrying, and fearing. Bombs, the rise and spread of communism, wars, and rumors of wars, droughts, floods, hurricanes, and earthquakes are things we have to face in this world. You may have personal problems, but so does everyone else. Fear would take control of you if you would let it. But Christmas is a time of hope, love and faith.

Listen a moment to the angels at that first Christmas: “And the angels said unto them, Fear not: for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10–12). Their first words were,“fear not.” God’s Christmas angels tell you to stop being afraid by turning your thoughts back to the child of Bethlehem. “Ye shall find the babe,” they said. Look at this untroubled baby. Herod’s legions will soon be marching in the night to destroy Him, but look at Him there in swaddling clothes; a manger is His baby bed. Only shepherds have come to adore Him. He is not worried. He is not afraid.

It is good to have faith every day in the year, but Christmas is a special time for faith. It is the day, supreme in history, when Father God believed in man strong enough to give him His only begotten Son. If the infinite God has such faith in you, surely you can have faith in Him. You can decide to make the faith pattern of Christmas, the daily pattern of your life.

4. This Christmas, remember you are not alone in this world.
There is no indication that God’s Christmas angels were ever recalled from the Earth. As far as we know, these angels are still hovering over mankind, saying, “On earth, peace, goodwill toward men.” If this be true, and I believe it is, then you are not alone in this world.

Beyond the shadow of a doubt, angels are on this earth: “The angel of the Lord encamps around them that fear him and delivers them” (Psalm 34:7). Christmas time is a very special time for you to think about the angels. They mean that you are not alone.

5. This Christmas, take a new look at God.
How happy God was that first Christmas night. He felt favorably disposed toward the human family. The angels echo his words: “On earth, peace, goodwill toward men.”

God is not against you, and you should know it. He has good will toward you. What better way could God prove this then by giving us a baby that first Christmas? A baby! How sweet and innocent, how tender and precious. The babe of Bethlehem is God’s way of saying to you, “I love you.”

6. This year, give the greatest Christmas gift of all – give yourself to Jesus.
I have deep feelings about Christmas. Some of these I have shared with you in this article. Here is a feeling I haven’t told you about. It is the feeling that the Christ child hovers near to change man’s heart. This feeling always comes to me on Christmas Day no matter where I am. Christmas will soon be here. How will we treat it?