Celebrate and Proclaim the Savior’s Birth  

We recently attended the Christmas program involving one of our younger grandsons. This choir of preschoolers did a great job of singing their holiday selections, often adding hand gestures and other motions to the lyrics. While we enjoyed the entire program, one of the highlights came when they joined their voices to perform the song, “Go Tell It on the Mountain.” I’ve noticed previously how children seem to ramp up the volume when they get to this particular song, and this occasion was no exception. It was so obvious that a smattering of laughter went through the audience as the kids began to belt out those familiar words – “Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere; go tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born!” This group was so enthusiastic in its rendering of the song that it could almost be described as shouting rather that singing. At any rate, their passionate performance seemed fitting for the subject matter as it reminded all of us that the birth of Jesus is great news that deserves to be shouted from the mountaintops.

As we have gone through this Christmas season, hopefully we have all been focusing on the importance and significance of Christ’s birth. Through the sermons we have heard, the songs we have song, maybe even catching some quiet moments of reflection while reading our Bibles and devotionals, I hope we have experienced some fresh personal inspiration concerning the great gift God gave us of His Son.

However, this good news isn’t meant to be kept to ourselves. As Mary did, we need to ponder these things in our hearts, but they are not to stay there as our own hidden treasure. This good news is meant to be shared. Like the shepherds, we need to spread the word about what has been revealed to us and what we have experienced. If we know that a Savior has been born, and if we have experienced the blessing of the salvation He came to provide, then we need to let others know about it so that they can receive the blessing too.

As Christmas Day approaches, who do we need to tell about the birth of our Savior? How can we shout the good news from the mountaintop? Let’s not just celebrate this occasion with joy in our hearts but also with some degree of the enthusiasm those preschoolers exhibited. This is great news! This is truth that our world needs to hear. There are people around us who need to experience the deliverance from the bondage to sin and guilt that Jesus came to provide. Let’s not fail to let them know about it or to remind them of what the celebration is really all about.

We live in a time when it is tempting to keep silent about such matters. If we speak too loudly about the truths of God’s Word, we are likely to be ridiculed, scorned, or rebuked. Maybe we need a renewal of the childlike enthusiasm we witnessed at that Christmas performance. If a Savior was truly born in Bethlehem, if God really did come in the flesh, and if Jesus went on to provide a way for us to have a right relationship with God and to receive the gift of eternal life, then that is news worth getting excited about. And it is news worth sharing with others.

So let’s celebrate the birth of Jesus this weekend, but let’s make sure we go beyond simply our own personal commemoration. Communicate this wonderful news to others who need to know about it. Go tell it to whomever is willing to listen. Jesus is born! And He came to save us from our sins.