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		<title>Why Are We Celebrating Christmas?</title>
		<link>https://thoughtsaboutgod.com/blog/bethany-hayes_celebrating-christmas/</link>
		
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		<pubDate>Thu, 22 Dec 2022 09:01:05 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Thoughts by Bethany Hayes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Thoughts by Women]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[birth of jesus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[celebrating Christmas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jesus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[jesus born]]></category>
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					<description><![CDATA[<p>Answer:  Jesus was born!  How would the average person answer that question?  Tradition?  Family?  Love for hearth and home? Read the rest...</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://thoughtsaboutgod.com/blog/bethany-hayes_celebrating-christmas/">Why Are We Celebrating Christmas?</a> appeared first on <a href="https://thoughtsaboutgod.com">Thoughts About God</a>.</p>
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">“<em>Jesus was born</em>.” <span style="color: #800000;">Matthew 2:1</span></h2>
<hr />
<p>We’ve approached a time of bustle.  Shopping, baking, holiday greetings, home for Christmas.  Why?  <strong>Why are we celebrating Christmas</strong>?</p>
<p>How would the average person answer that question?  Tradition?  Family?  Love for hearth and home?</p>
<p><strong>Let’s go back to the first Christmas. </strong>A baby in a stall.  And the most incredible statement ever spoken:  “Jesus was born.”   The “<em>image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature</em>” who is “<em>before all things, and by him all things consist</em>” (see <span style="color: #800000;"><strong>Colossians 1:15-19</strong></span>).  HE was born.    GOD was “<em>made flesh and dwelt among us</em>” (<span style="color: #800000;"><strong>John 1:14</strong></span>).</p>
<p><strong>He was made flesh</strong>.  All the blood of bulls and goats could not fully atone for man’s sin.  The blood of Christ was the only blood sufficient.  So a body was prepared for Him (<span style="color: #800000;"><strong>Hebrews 10:5</strong></span>).  Suddenly, God could bleed.  And 33 years later, He bled on the cross, and God’s perfect justice was satisfied.</p>
<p><strong>He dwelt among us.</strong> But why was He born?  Why didn’t He arrive as a full-grown man the hour of the crucifixion, pay for sins, and then leave?  So He could also dwell “<em>among us</em>.”  He associated Himself with us and was tempted “<em>in all points. . .like as we are</em>” (<span style="color: #800000;"><strong>Hebrews 4:15</strong></span>).  He went through the things we go through.  He was touched by every grief, every disappointment, every painful trial, and every overwhelming temptation.   And yet, He never sinned.</p>
<p>He bled as a perfect sacrifice.  He lived a perfect life.</p>
<p><strong>Horatius Bonar</strong> once said:</p>
<blockquote><p><em>Upon a life I did not live,<br />
Upon a death I did not die;<br />
Another’s life, Another’s death,<br />
I stake my whole eternity.</em></p></blockquote>
<p><strong>You and I can say that, too, because “<em>Jesus was born</em>.</strong>”</p>
<p><strong>THAT’s why we’re celebrating Christmas.</strong></p>
<p>by <a title="About Bethan Hayes" href="https://thoughtsaboutgod.com/authors_/about-bethany-hayes" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="color: #003366;">Bethany Hayes</span></a><br />
Used by Permission</p>

<hr />
<h4>Further Reading</h4>
<p>• <strong><a href="https://thoughtsaboutgod.com/katherine-kehler/come-worship-king">Come Worship the King</a></strong> – One way to celebrate Christ’s birth as a family</p>
<p>• <strong> <a href="https://thoughtsaboutgod.com/christmas_/wonderful-christmas-morning">A Wonderful Christmas Morning</a></strong></p>
<p>•  <strong><a href="https://thoughtsaboutgod.com/four-laws/">Salvation Explained</a></strong></p>
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<p>The post <a href="https://thoughtsaboutgod.com/blog/bethany-hayes_celebrating-christmas/">Why Are We Celebrating Christmas?</a> appeared first on <a href="https://thoughtsaboutgod.com">Thoughts About God</a>.</p>
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