Imagine this scenario if you will: You are at a party and the place is filled with people! Everyone seems to be having a good time; laughing, singing, drinking, and just having a ball! All of your friends are there and many people you don’t even know! There is a chair sitting in the middle of the room, draped with decorations and festival ornaments. The chair is the one reserved for the guest of honor; the person whose life and birthday is the occasion for the festivities. But, wait a minute! The chair is empty! The guest of honor is nowhere to be found! You ask those hosting the party the whereabouts of the guest of honor and they return your inquiry with a puzzled look on their faces. Finally, they answer you; admitting that the guest of honor was not even invited! He was not invited because he wouldn’t have approved of much of the activity that was going on at the party in his honor! Then they tell you that not only was the guest of honor not invited, he wouldn’t have been welcomed!

Sounds like an incredible scenario, doesn’t it? But isn’t that exactly what happens every year with most Christmas celebrations? I mean, think about it! Do you really think Jesus would be invited, pleased or welcomed at most of our office Christmas parties? How dare we have parties of revelry and debauchery to celebrate the coming of the Holy Son of God? Would Jesus lift up a glass filled with eggnog and Hennessy to toast at our celebrations of His birth? And what about the gifts and the giving? In the biblical text, the Wise Men brought and gave gifts to Jesus; not to one another! What kind of birthday party is it when the guests give gifts to one another but not to the honoree?

Now, I hope you don’t think I’m trying to be the Scrooge or the Grinch who stole Christmas! I’m just simply saying that by and large, we celebrate a “Christ-less Christmas!” A “good Christmas” for most of us usually means we got the gifts we wanted, but it should mean the presence of the Christ in our lives! In the midst of the Black Fridays, Gray Thursdays, and Cyber Mondays, we’ve lost the real meaning of the season! Christmas is really about what money cannot buy: The coming of the Savior! Peace on Earth and good will to all men!

So if you don’t have spending money for presents and gifts for the ones you love, the best gift you can give them this Christmas is the gift of yourself! Give your love, time, and attention to your family! Give loyalty and dedication to your friends! Give the gift of the Gospel to those who have not personally met the Guest of Honor!