Christians who celebrate Christmas often say Christ is the reason for the season — and He is! But the reality is that the days leading up to and including Christmas Day are so busy with shopping, seasonal events, visiting, family and scrumptious meals that we have precious little time to quietly reflect on our Lord Jesus Christ.

Since 2009, heaven4sure has published a weekly Monday Meditation written by Dr. A.J. Higgins of New Jersey, USA. These heart-warming Christ-centered weekly devotionals are rich in teaching specifically about the Person of Christ while at the same time soul-nourishing in deepening your appreciation and enjoyment of Christ.

If you are wondering how you might be a blessing to others as this year comes to a close, here is one way: encourage Christians within your local gathering of believers to subscribe to Dr. Higgin’s Monday Meditations. A plethora of spiritual material is saturating the online world from many different and sometimes dubious sources. There is nothing more critical in our Christian lives than to be doctrinally sound on the Person of Christ.

John Newton’s old hymn starts this way:

What think ye of Christ? is the test
To try both your state and your scheme;
You cannot be right in the rest,
Unless you think rightly of Him;

In your pursuit of enjoying a Christ-centered Christmas, take time to consider this previously published Monday Meditation by Dr. Higgins entitled:

The Saviour at Bethlehem

When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, “Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.” Luke 2:15 NASB

The Choice He Made

What a checkered history comes to mind when we think of Bethlehem! The sad and sordid history surrounding it linked with the judges (Judges 17:7; 19:1) and the failure of Elimelech (Ruth 1:1-3) must have rested as a heavy pall over the small city for years. Only the godly character of a Boaz and the fact that it was the origin of David helped to remove some of the stain from its reputation.

But the only Man who had the option to choose the place of His birth, including the time and circumstances, and even His parents, chose Bethlehem. He did this to fulfill a Scripture (Micah 5:2).

He came to poor parents, not middle-class or well-to-do ones. He arrived at a time of national oppression by the Romans. He came at a time when the world knew little of comfort and ease. Would any of our current generation opt to live at a time when none of the technological advances were even dreamed of being possible?

Yet He chose to come then and there! Elsewhere, we are told that this was the “fullness of the time” (Galatians 4:4), and it was the “end of the world or ages” (Hebrews 9:26).

The Change that Occurred

Micah’s prophecy foretelling the place of His birth makes it clear that Bethlehem would be the site. Micah referred to Bethlehem as “little among the thousands of Judah” (5:2). Yet, when the scribes in the New Testament quote it, they said, “And thou Bethlehem … art not the least among the princes of Judah” (Matthew 2:6). Bethlehem suddenly catapulted from being “little” to not being “the least.” What brought about this change? It was the birth of the Son of God in Bethlehem. His coming changed Bethlehem and gave it a significance that cannot be measured and will never be forgotten.

The Cradle He Graced

It was at Bethlehem that the Saviour was born, and it was there that those memorable and thrilling words were recorded that she —”laid Him in a manger.” He left heaven’s glory and graced a manger at His birth.

Historians and theologians debate if it was a wooden structure meant to hold food for animals or if it was a stone ledge where food was placed for those animals. It matters little. A gold-lined crib with a feather-down mattress would have been a step of humility for Him. How much more a manger for a cradle! In His birth, He graced a cradle. At His death, He took the most heinous instrument of man’s cruelty, a cross, and attached a glory to it that excels any earthly glory known.

The Consequences that Ensued

Who can measure the consequences of His coming? His words in the upper room, “If I had not come” (John 15:22), send a chill down the spine. What if Jesus had not come? What would life be like? What would eternity be like? But He has come; He came to Bethlehem and then to Nazareth, and finally to cross. And, as John has told us, “The world itself could not contain the books” that would detail the consequences of His coming (John 21:25). You and I are among those “consequences.”  —Dr. A.J. Higgins

May you know much of His Presence as the year draws to a close and a new one begins.

Click here to visit the Theodore F. Williams Tribute Gallery on this site.

Don’t hesitate to share a thought from your personal experience or a verse that has been a blessing to you –  in the comment section below. Or, if you would like to reach out privately, click below.