Why Christmas still matters

Christmas stirs up strong emotions. For some, it’s a season of joy, connection, and celebration. For others, it highlights pain and unmet longings. Whether people love it or struggle with it, Christmas matters. But why? What is it about this time of year that evokes such a deep response?

For at least four hundred years, churches around the world have marked the weeks leading up to Christmas with the tradition of Advent. Each week, a candle is lit symbolizing Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love, culminating in the Christ candle on Christmas Day. These candles remind us of something profound: the universal longing for these four qualities. Christmas is so powerful because we all know that we need Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love to live full and healthy lives. Yet, too often, they are the very things that are missing. This is why Christmas can be painful—it brings these needs into focus, exposing what feels lacking in our lives.

This pain points to something deeper. Perhaps the human need for Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love is one of the strongest arguments for God. It’s as if we were created for these things, and Christmas taps into that reality in a way no other holiday does.

The story of Christmas takes us back to a promise made 700 years before Jesus’ birth. The prophet Micah wrote these words:

“But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village among all the people of Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel, whose origins are in the distant past, will come from you on my behalf. The people of Israel will be abandoned to their enemies until the woman in labor gives birth… Then his people will live there undisturbed, for he will be highly honored around the world. And he will be the source of their peace.” (Micah 5:2-5)

What’s remarkable is that we have a physical copy of Micah’s words that dates to 75–100 years before the birth of Jesus. This wasn’t an after-the-fact fabrication—it was a genuine promise, preserved for centuries. The Jewish people were longing for peace and restoration, living under oppression and waiting for a Messiah who would rescue them. But when the Messiah came, he didn’t fit their expectations.

Many thought the Messiah would be a military leader who would overthrow their oppressors. But Micah hinted at something different:

“I will remove your horses and chariots… I will destroy all your idols and sacred pillars… you will never again worship the work of your own hands.” (Micah 5:13)

This wasn’t going to be about military might, religion, or idols. Jesus came to bring peace in a way no one expected. He would defeat enemies without coercive violence, challenging the systems people depended on for security. He said, “Love your enemies,” dismantling the very idea that power could bring lasting peace. As Micah foretold, “Your power isn’t going to be the thing that wins the game.”

This revolutionary message extends to religion as well. Micah predicted that God would dismantle religious systems based on rules and rituals meant to manipulate God. True peace was never going to come from religion or coercion. It would come from something far greater.

This brings us to the heart of the Christmas story: worship. As David Foster Wallace observed:

“In the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is no such thing as atheism. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship.”

Wallace warned that worshipping the wrong things—money, beauty, power—can destroy us:

“If you worship money, you’ll never feel you have enough. Worship beauty, and you’ll always feel ugly. Worship power, and you’ll feel weak and afraid.”

The insidious thing about these forms of worship, he said, is that they’re unconscious. They become our default settings, shaping our lives in ways we barely notice. Christmas confronts us with a choice: what will we worship? Will we give ourselves to idols that ultimately cannot satisfy, or will we embrace the one who promises true life?

Jesus offers a different path. He said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” True life isn’t found in chasing things that fade but in following the one who brings lasting peace, hope, and joy.

The baby born in Bethlehem wasn’t just another ruler or prophet. He was Immanuel—God with us. As Isaiah foretold:

“The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’” (Isaiah 7:14)

This changes everything. Jesus doesn’t just meet our deepest needs for Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love. He reorders our priorities, inviting us to love others in the same way he loved us. He said,

“This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:10-14)

Jesus invites us to test his teachings in the reality of our lives. As Dallas Willard put it:

“Putting Jesus Christ into a worldwide competition with all known alternatives is the only way we can give our faith a chance to prove his power over the whole of life.”

Christmas, then, is an invitation to step into this reality—to embrace the life Jesus offers and let him reorder our lives from the inside out.

When we sing the Hallelujah Chorus, we declare something revolutionary:

“King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, and He shall reign forever and ever!”

This isn’t just a sentimental refrain. It’s a declaration that Jesus is King over every power and authority, and that his reign brings a peace and joy that no earthly system can replicate. Christmas isn’t about sentimentality or commercialism. It’s about allegiance to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

For many, Christmas will always be bittersweet. It reminds us of unmet longings and unrealized dreams. But the story of Jesus speaks directly into this pain. His birth was not just the arrival of a king but the arrival of God with us. It was the fulfillment of a promise that had been preserved for centuries.

This Christmas, the invitation still stands. Lay down the idols that cannot satisfy. Embrace the hope, peace, love, and joy that come from following Jesus. He is still the source of life, offering a peace that surpasses understanding and a love that redefines everything.