“This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world” (1 John 4:9).

What was your best Christmas? Maybe it was the one when you finally received a longed-for present. Maybe it was the one after you returned home from a long semester or deployment. Maybe it was the first Christmas after getting married or after you added a new family member.

Human love at Christmas

What makes a certain Christmas your best Christmas? Simple. It is a time defined by love. Love for the giver of that longed-for gift. Love for those you missed during your time away. Love for those nearest and dearest to you.

It’s easy to feel the love at Christmas, isn’t it? You spend time with people you love, eat food you love, and open presents you love. You’re surrounded by smells you love and songs you love, you go to church services you love, and you sing hymns you love. Christmas is the best because it’s all about love.

But don’t get lost in the love this Christmas. What I mean is this: Don’t get lost in the love of family and friends. Don’t get wrapped up in the love of giving or receiving presents. Don’t fill up on the love of Christmas meals and goodies. Christmas isn’t about love like that. Christmas is about God’s love for us.

God’s love at Christmas

Christmas is about the love we see in the manger: the God no one has seen, now revealed to all. Christmas is about the love we hear the angels declare: A Savior, born for you! Christmas is about the love the shepherds of Bethlehem proclaimed: The promised Messiah is here!

Christmas is about God’s love for us—for you—the love that prompted him to send the Savior into the world to live and die and rise! That first Christmas, some two thousand years ago in the little town of Bethlehem, was the best Christmas. And every Christmas since then has been just as amazing because every Christmas we see God’s love for us.

Christmas is about God’s love for us—for you—the love that prompted him to send the Savior into the world to live and die and rise!

There’s a story about a pastor who once shared his best Christmas. It was right after he became a father and had a son to call his own. On Christmas morning, he went upstairs to get his newborn son. But when he got to the crib, he discovered his infant son had died during the night. It was a terrible tragedy. But this, he said, was his best Christmas. Why?

It was his best Christmas because he understood more clearly just how much God loved him. You see, God didn’t just discover his Son dead in a crib. God didn’t just find out that Jesus ran away to earth and died. God sent Jesus. God sent his own Son to go to earth and die.

That’s how much God loves us. That’s how much God loves you. And seeing that love is what makes every Christmas the best Christmas.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank you for loving us so much that you sent Jesus to die for our sins. May your love shine brightly this Christmas. Amen.

Author: Evan Chartrand
Volume 112, Number 12
Issue: December 2025