Christmas is about Christ. All debates over dates and grapples over greetings aside, this is the most open season in the calendar of our culture to publicly make much of Christ. After all, His advent is for our adoration.
We are stewards of the gospel and as such we must make good use of every means and opportunity to be renewed in it and retell it. Christmastime is one great opportunity for the gospel.
But our busyness in the Christmas season often works against our purpose. Our schedules at this time of year make us more tired, but do they make us more Christ-centered? We may be more filled, but are we more filled with the joy of Christ? Are we enjoying all good things during this season with a conscious delight in Christ? The irony is that we tend to be busier than ever in a season that is about Christ while our busyness actually wears us down and can even distract us from healthy reflection and meditation on Christ.
In an effort to deliberately counter this tendency, we are recommending a very doable devotional for this Advent season. It is a small book entitled, The Dawning of Indestructible Joy, by John Piper. It contains 25 brief devotional readings, one for each day of December working up to Christmas Day. Most of the readings are about one full page in length, requiring only a few minutes of time that can potentially yield hours of devotional-mindedness. We join with the publishers in saying, “Our hope is that God would use these meditations to deepen and sweeten your adoration of Jesus and help you keep him at the center of your Christmas season.”
May we make much of Christ this Christmas, for God’s glory and man’s joy.
You can purchase this book in paperback format from your favorite bookstore (currently $5.49 at Christianbook and $7.99 at Amazon) or download a digital copy for free (see Crossway and Desiring God).