Jesus Christ is the only God who has a date in history. – Dorothy Sayers

If you check sites like Reddit or Bored Panda, you’ll find lots of accounts of bad birthday cakes or pathetic birthday party stories. 

For example, Marc’s wife wanted his birthday to be special. She went out of her way to make certain the bakery knew how to spell his name, with a “C” at the end. The result was: Happy Birthday Mark with the Sea.

One of the worst was for a young man who decided to have a Super Bowl Party for his birthday party: “My birthday is at the very end of January, so often this coincides with the Super Bowl. My 16^th birthday was going to be a Super Bowl party. I gave out a ton of invites — paper and verbal. I had a bunch of people say they would swing by, either for the whole thing or for the first half. I put out snacks and had the game on the big screen. I only had two people show up and they didn’t even come inside. They just dropped off a small cake on their way to a different Super Bowl party. At halftime I finally gave up hope that anyone else was showing up and told my mom to put the snacks away as I was going to bed.”

Can you imagine that it’s your birthday party and no one invites YOU? It sounds a lot like Christmas today. One large shopping center displayed a giant Christmas banner that read: Season’s Greetings — Celebrate the Magic! But not a single reference to the Christ of Christmas. No manger or stable. No mention of salvation, or Emmanuel — God with us. One little girl tugged her mom’s hand, looked up at the sign, and asked, “Mommy… where did Jesus go?” Good question. That child noticed what our secularized world ignores or tries hard to forget. But without Christ, Christmas collapses. Without Christ, Christmas becomes decorations without meaning, celebration without purpose, and sentiment without salvation. It’s a birthday celebration without the guest of honor. 

Imagine that you’ve been invited to a party, a birthday party. All your friends, loved ones, acquaintances and even some of your enemies are in attendance. The place is all decorated and adorned with the trimmings for the big affair. The gifts are in abundance. Everyone seems to be having a good time! But wait, something is terribly wrong! You suddenly realize that everybody is at this party except the birthday person – the guest of honor! You ask the host as to the whereabouts of the honoree. You’re shocked to learn that the guest of honor wasn’t even invited to his own birthday celebration! Furthermore, you discover that not only was he not invited, but should he happen to show up, he wouldn’t be welcomed!

Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? Isn’t that though Christmas today? Check out nearly any store and see if you can find a manger scene? You’ll find Peanuts displays. Lots of Santa Clauses. You’ll even find a Yoda or a Stitch, BUT no manger, no Mary or Joseph and certainly NO JESUS. Our secular world celebrates a Christ-less Christmas! Most have X-ed Him out and replaced the babe in a manger with a fat man in a red suit! Yet, without Jesus, we can’t have the virtues that we value the most at Christmas – Love, Joy and Peace. 

There is no love without Jesus.

Christmas cards often have, The Reason for the Season is Love. But whose love? God is love. It’s why God gave the first Christmas gift with His Son, Jesus, who was born to die for us and our sins. 

True love is selfless and sacrificial. It’s nearly impossible to be either one without the love of Jesus working through your life. Without Jesus, we find we’re praying more for our own needs than for others? Even our prayers center around our personal desires.

Without the love of Jesus, sexual love is often little more than lust. Are my needs met? Am I fulfilled? Am I satisfied? True love is seen when an elderly couple after decades of marriage finds that one has succumbed to dementia. The other gently cares for the spouse with dementia. That’s love!

There is no joy without Jesus.

Most of what we label joy is happiness. The core problem with happiness is that it’s dependent on what happens. 

Think about it, you buy a new car. You’re happy for the first few months but when it gets a scratch, dent or breaks down, it’s the negative side. You buy a new house but once you need to maintain it, you see the negative side. We chase materialistic things because we think they will bring us joy, but true joy is only found in Jesus. The rest is temporary and an illusion. 

Philippians is the most joyful book in the Bible. The Apostle Paul uses words for joy and rejoicing sixteen times in just 104 verses. Yet, he writes the letter while imprisoned in a dingy Roman prison, a place associated with misery, which is the opposite of joy. Paul is surrounded by every conceivable obstacle to joy, so why does he have joy? Because Paul has the key: Rejoice in the Lord. Rejoicing in the Lord means that these truths about Jesus — who He is, what He’s done, and what He will do — personally and profoundly transform us and our outlook. Rejoicing in the Lord begins with knowing Jesus as your Lord and Savior. 

There is no peace without Jesus.

In the 2000 comedy, Miss Congeniality, Sandra Bullock plays FBI agent Gracie Hart, who enters a beauty pageant undercover to catch a serial bomber. In the movie the wish of all the other contestants is world peace. The problem is that our world wants peace without the Prince of Peace. It will never happen. Peace is rooted in the Person of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace. He alone is the giver of peace. 

Historians have compiled this startling information. Since 3600 B.C., the world has known only 292 years of peace! During this period there have been 14,351 wars large and small, in which 3,640,000,000 people have been killed. The value of the property destroyed is equal to a golden band around the world 97.2 miles wide and 33 feet thick. Since 650 B. C., there have also been 1,656 arms races, only 16 of which have not ended in war. The remainder ended in the economic collapse of the countries involved.

What the United Nations and world leaders have failed to accomplish; the Prince of Peace will accomplish. Jesus Christ will bring lasting world peace. In the meantime, you and I can experience His personal, inward, spiritual peace. 

The words Jesus shared with His disciples found in John 14:27 on the night He was betrayed, bring us confidence, courage, and assurance today: Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

The only way to have the greatest gifts of Christmas – Love, Joy and Peace – is to put Christ back into Christmas, and then in your own heart.