December 24, 2015

Merry Christmas!

Christmas can be one of the busiest times of the year. Our many activities can be meaningful and fun but can also be exhausting and even distracting. How much time do we spend reflecting upon what really happened that first Christmas? Hectic days work against quiet reflection. Additionally, we’ve heard the story of Jesus’ birth so often that it can seem almost incidental to our celebrations.

“Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.” Luke 2:19

Christmas can be one of the busiest times of the year. Our many activities can be meaningful and fun but can also be exhausting and even distracting.

How much time do we spend reflecting upon what really happened that first Christmas? Hectic days work against quiet reflection. Additionally, we’ve heard the story of Jesus’ birth so often that it can seem almost incidental to our celebrations.

But when we truly grasp what took place in the manger in Bethlehem, the story of Jesus’ coming will never become routine. God intervening in human history, becoming man, living as one of us: This isn’t just a sweet story about a young mother and her baby but the epic account of the greatest event in universal history.

What’s also extraordinary about all of these things is that they are true. They are not “cleverly-devised tales” (1 Peter 1:16) but facts of history. Luke, in his account of Jesus’ birth, goes to great pains to make this clear. He writes of a Roman emperor, a Syrian governor, and a census registration. He describes the lineage of Jesus’ adoptive father Joseph to underscore Jesus’ rightful claim to being Messiah, and outlines the trail from Bethlehem in Galilee to Nazareth in Judea. Luke is making as clear as he can that his report is of something that actually happened in time and space.

Absorbing all of this can be hard. That is why we have to become like Mary. In the midst of noisy animals, having just given birth, and tending to the needs of a little baby, she treasured the experiences of that universe-shattering moment and pondered them.

If anyone ever had an excuse for not thinking about the deep things of God, it was the virgin mother of God’s Son. The spiritual, physical, and emotional demands on her are almost unimaginable. But even as she fed her newborn son or wrapped and re-wrapped the cloths keeping him warm, she wondered at the work of the Lord in and through and around her.

As we celebrate Christmas this year, let’s truly celebrate the birth of the Savior of mankind, Jesus Christ. Let’s be more like Mary this Christmas and ponder the incredible miracle that took place in the hills of Judea which altered the course of human history.

From all of us at Family Research Council, Merry Christmas!


This is a publication of the Family Research Council. Mr. Perkins is president of FRC.

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.