(If you received an email about a post called “questioning God”, then ignore it. WordPress has been acting funky and decided to publish that post instead of this post. Just so you know🙃)

Welcome to The Faithful Wanderer’s first ever Christmas Eve Encouragement Post: a post filled with Christmas encouragement from other writers and bloggers, including myself. This post is, in a way, my form of a Christmas Eve service at a church: families coming together to worship and recognize the true meaning of Christmas and the reason we are all here today. I hope that you find these pieces encouraging and I pray that you all have a blessed and very merry Christmas.
~Willow

Joseph P. Flick

Gold, frankincense, and myrrh—these are the gifts the wise men presented to the young Jesus. (Matthew 2:9-11) You likely already knew this. However, have you ever stopped to consider why they brought these three gifts specifically? Well, let’s examine what these items were used for in Biblical times:

Gold. A valuable metal, and a gift commonly presented to kings all over the ancient world. Symbolic of, and often associated with, royalty and kingship.

Frankincense. An expensive aromatic resin used in worship in the Temple at Jerusalem, usually in incense offerings. Symbolic of the divine and the Jewish priestly system.

Myrrh. Another rare and valuable resin, but differs from frankincense in that myrrh was used as a perfume and an embalming spice. Symbolic of suffering and burial.

So, where does that leave us?

Gold, a symbol of royalty and kingship, was presented to the young Jesus as a prophetic signal of His position of spiritual authority as Lord over Heaven and Earth.

Frankincense, a symbol of the divine and the Jewish priestly system, was gifted to Jesus to point towards his divine position as the Son of God and His role as the true, eternal High Priest.

Myrrh, a symbol of suffering and burial, was bestowed upon the young Jesus as a sign of His eventual suffering, crucifixion, death, and burial.

These three gifts, presented by the wise men to a very young Jesus, work together to showcase the full prophetic picture of Jesus’ earthly life as the Son of God and everything that He would accomplish during that time.

This Christmas, when you read the story of Jesus’ birth, don’t let the significance of these gifts be lost on you—remember not only the baby Jesus, but what the adult Jesus did on Earth so that we might be with Him in Heaven for eternity.

Willow

“Christmas is the season of joy, of giving, of family, of lights, of happy feelings. Christmas is the season where you leave all your worries and cares behind as you dive into the New Year.”

This is what I think of when I hear ‘Christmas.’ And while you won’t find me being a Scrooge or a Grinch (although they both come to love Christmas in the end), I always feel a sense of grief and disappointment with every Christmas. The season of alleged joy doesn’t always seem to be joyful, but rather burdened with the weight of growing old. I don’t have as many things on my wishlist (no more Barbies or toys), but rather just the simple wish of tradition staying the same, to wake up early with excitement, and for a peaceful (but loud and fun) morning.

I forgot how to ‘Christmas’ like I did before. Before I became a boring teenager, before I had to think about homework during break, before every year I get closer to eventually moving out so I have to visit my parents for Christmas, before Christmas was more about giving the best gift you could ever give. Before sadness decided that he was taking over the holiday.

‘Christmas does not bring me joy anymore.’

Does that phrase resonate with you? It resonates more and more each year—but behind all the commercialism, Christmas still holds this: it is a season of joy even amidst pain.

When Mary had followed her husband to his hometown to register for the census, she left her family. Imagine her disappointment and sadness when she had first child, the son of God, in a barn with animals, in a city that wasn’t hers, without her mother or family. It was likely bittersweet. Bittersweet is not bad, and that goes for the Christmas season as well.

Sometimes joy looks like having a Christmas party with your best friends. Sometimes joy looks like saying, “God, I need to feel your presence in this season.”

It may look different for each person, but joy is possible, even if it’s unexpected. After all, there is much reason to be joyful:

But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.“
(Luke 2:10-11 NIV)

Wyndsor Pool

“Christmas is the replacement of shadows with the real thing,” John Piper writes in his book Good News of Great Joy. Many times in the Bible we see God promising something to His people and those promises being fulfilled.

One of those instances was a promise of God’s very own Son gracing the world with His presence and coming with the mission to serve and  die the death we deserved in order to mend our relationship with the Father, temporarily breaking His (Isaiah 9:6, Matthew 27:46). 

Isaiah 59:2 states that our sins separated us from God. Jesus sealed that gap by taking on our sins and receiving the wrath of God in our place. Christmas was the fulfillment of the promise God made of His Son coming to Earth to save us. It happened the night our Savior was born into the world. He was living proof that God keeps His promises and it was hands down worth all the waiting that believers over all time had done. 

So what does this mean for us today? Well, for one, we can observe the Lord’s faithfulness to fulfill His promises–this gives us hope to not grow weary or give up! (Galatians 6:9) Additionally, it gives us a firm trust in His promises and His word. Because we can believe His promises will come to pass, we can believe that one day we will be with Him in eternity, just as He promises, and that Jesus will return for His bride, the Church!

Therefore, we can live on purpose and not give up because this life won’t last forever–one day we will be united with our heavenly Father for eternity (John 10:28). Christ being born was the fulfillment of many of God’s promises, which therefore provides evidence that God’s promises will be fulfilled and His word can be trusted. We can also draw the conclusion that when He promises to never leave us, He stands by His word (Deuteronomy 31:6).

As we celebrate Christmas, I pray that you will hold onto these truths and remember the Lord’s faithfulness to keep His promises. 

Vivi B.

Where’s My Joy? (Poem by Vivi B.)

My heart hurts,
it feels like it’s
caving in,
dying. 

Where’s my Christmas joy? 
Why is it all different
this year?

How did it change? 

When did it change?

My friends,
my family,
feel miles away.

Yet,
they sit right next to me.

Does your Christmas season feel similar to this? Maybe you’re dealing with grief, change, busyness, or something else equally hard. Every year, it seems someone talks about this— the “it’s okay to not be okay this holiday season.” But instead of letting you off easy, I want to challenge you as you go into Christmas Day to choose joy. 

It sounds tough. And it is. But joy is a choice you get to make. It’s something you have control over. You can choose to follow the light, or stay in that little dark tunnel that only makes you curl up into a ball and cry. However, choosing to be joyful, choosing to be thankful in the struggle, not because Christmas carols are playing and the tree is up, but because God’s given you another day, another Christmas to celebrate what He’s given us— that’s how we get this joy.

So all that heaviness on your heart? Lay it down at God’s feet, give it to Him. Write it down, think about what you said, and then throw away the piece of paper. Then get up and go do a Christmas activity or tradition that you love, because you do have a reason to be joyful. He’s there to be your joy, because He is joy.

 It’s okay if you don’t feel like doing something big, but choose something. Whether it’s curling up with a good book or rewatching your favorite Christmas movie, drinking hot chocolate or baking cookies, just do it. 

This Christmas season, I pray you’ll choose joy because it’s a gift that’s always available, waiting for us to accept. Joy isn’t something we sit around and wait for—it’s something we can pursue everyday.

Eric Mastracchio

Since we moved into a new house, it has been a tradition in my family to set up a nativity scene. It is not a typical nativity scene– it takes up an entire wall of the largest room in our house and is set up across many small tables, not just one. This sort of creche originated in the Neapolitan area of Italy, and my father inherited most of the pieces in the nativity from his father, who immigrated from Italy.

The nativity scene shows the entire town of Bethlehem. In the center is a grotto-like structure, within which kneel Mary, Joseph, a cow and a donkey. Around this, there are a few hand-made and hand-painted cardboard houses my father’s father made, and the scene is alive with small figurines of people going about their lives. 

When it is all set up, it is beautiful, but looking at it, a thought struck me. Baby Jesus is the center of the scene—but He is not the focus of the people. Except for the shepherds who kneel before the manger, everyone else is oblivious to His birth. Many don’t even notice the large star which is hung on the wall above the grotto in which lies the Christ child. 

When the Son of God came into the world, it was not an earth-shaking event. He was born in an unusual way, granted, but not a particularly special one. The crowded town of Bethlehem went about its business. They had been waiting for the Messiah for thousands of years, years of hope, but also of pain and darkness; and when he appeared, they didn’t see it—oblivious of the greatest gift that God was giving them.

But the fact remained: God was giving them that gift. Even through these humble beginnings, rays of radiance break through—the angel choir which appeared to the shepherds, and the star over Bethlehem which eventually led the wise men from the east to worship the Christ child. One had only to look up and see this star above the stable to realize it. 

Sometimes, it seems like we ourselves are getting nowhere. We wait for God to do something great for us, but He doesn’t—at least it seems that way. But God is in the small things, the humble things. The things that are great to God are not always great to us. Who would’ve thought that the crucifixion of the Messiah was the climax of God’s plan to save us? But it was, and God used the death of His own Son to redeem humanity. 

God is there, and He is working, even when it feels like he isn’t. Your situation may feel like the stable—but if you look up, God’s hand is over it, just like the star on the first Christmas.

~ ~ ~

About the writers:

Joseph P. Flick II has been writing stories his entire life and writing seriously for the past eight years. Dedicated to improving his craft, Joseph is a current creative writing major in college and a member of the Young Writers’ Workshop, an exclusive community that gives students access to like-minded peers and published authors. When he isn’t writing books of fantasy, dystopia, and faith, you can find Joseph daydreaming about theology and how stories can help you grow closer to God.

Wyndsor Pool is a passionate writer and Jesus follower living in Georgia.
When not writing, she can be found playing the piano, hanging out with friends and siblings, or curled up in a cozy chair, sipping iced coffee and devouring a good book. Wyndsor’s ultimate mission is to share the love of God and reveal truth and hope through her writing.

Vivi is a teen writer and poet who lives in the midwest, creating for the Creator. When she’s not writing or editing a friend’s writing, you can find her making colorful art, baking sweet things, and hanging out with her dog. She plans on being published and filling the world with books worth reading.

Eric Mastracchio is a young writer who seeks to glorify God. You can find his writing on his website, Eric Mastracchio.