John probably had the greatest understanding of the story of Christ’s birth than anyone, but he doesn’t talk at all about what happened in the Christmas narrative. He simply begins with the why.

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14) John wanted us to know that God had shown up.

On that first Christmas morning, God gave everyone a gift. The true light that gives light to all had come into the world. (John 1:9) Jesus turned the light on in this dark world, and suddenly, we could see and understand things that people had never been able to see or understand before.

Then in John 1:12, he said, “To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” There is a key phrase in Verse 12 that I don’t want you to miss. He says, “To those who believe in…” To believe in or to believe on is different than to believe that.

To trust in or to trust on is different than to trust that. John is talking about placing all your faith, all your hope, all your trust and all your confidence in Jesus. Have you done that? I hope that you have.

At the very end of John’s gospel, he made a very specific point: “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in his name.” (John 20:31)

John wanted us to know that we can have a personal relationship with a God, who up to this point had seemed so far away. That is why Jesus came in the first place.

Suddenly, God came near, and now, he seemed knowable. And it happened because of Jesus, God’s one and only son, came to earth to show us how much God loved us.

For the first time in history, people were hearing this idea of a personal savior. God so loved the world, but he loved the world one person at a time. John wanted to make sure we got it. That is why he wrote what he did.

He said these things “are written that you may believe …” Jesus came to be the savior of the world. He came to be your personal savior. That’s the point of Christmas.

You may read Steve Greene’s blog at pastorgreene.wordpress.com or you can email him at [email protected].