One Shift Will Transform Your December
Every December most of us feel the pressure to make the season meaningful. We plan traditions, spend money and chase magic while things feel rushed, strained, or strangely empty at the exact moments we want meaning. There’s plenty of goodness to find in the Christmas season but it can’t be manufactured. It only shows up with the appearance of grace.
The Apostle Paul summarizes the entire Christmas story in one verse:
“For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.”
— Titus 2:11
Christmas is an appearing—a showing up—of grace. The Greek word he uses, epiphainō, means “to shine upon,” “to become visible,” or “to show up in light.” Grace didn’t stay abstract. It stepped onto the scene and made itself known and seen.
This grace was not given to the deserving. It was given to people who had done nothing but resist God—people who had ignored him, minimized him, accused him, and turned away from him. And yet, God offered salvation “to all people”—not because we were good, but because He is.
That is grace: favor given freely to the undeserving. And the first Christmas was when that favor became visible in the person of Jesus.
Grace That Shows Up
Luke’s gospel describes the moment when God’s grace appeared in the world—not quietly, but dramatically, tangibly:
“An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them… ‘I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today…a Savior has been born to you.’” — Luke 2:9–11
Then, suddenly:
“A great company of the heavenly host appeared… praising God and saying,
‘Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.’” — Luke 2:13–14
Look at how visible grace is in this moment:
Angels bursting into a dark field
Glory shining with overwhelming light
A baby offered as a sign of salvation
A choir praising in the night sky
Peace descending because God’s favor had arrived
Christmas was heaven breaking through to earth so that grace could appear.
At Christmas, God offered a visible, tangible gift of grace —free, no strings attached. And humans respond in familiar ways: “Can I pay you back?” … “Are you sure this is for me?”
We struggle to receive anything without performing, earning, or proving. Yet God’s message in Christ is simple:
“This is an offering.
Don’t make it complicated.
Just receive it.”
The Strategy for December
If you want a Christmas season filled with meaning, joy, and peace, your strategy isn’t more activity, seasonal perfection, or escape.
Your strategy is grace.
First- receive it for yourself.
Second - give it out.
And then God invites His people to make His grace appear through our own lives. You are an agent of the grace of God and it’s the key to having a Christmas season full of meaning.
“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others,
as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” — 1 Peter 4:10
God’s grace takes many forms, and you carry one of them. Christmas will show up on the scene when you decide to pass it out generously and frequently!
Some give grace through words—encouragement, gratitude, blessing
Some through service—quiet, faithful, unseen
Some through creating beauty - bringing pleasure and joy
Some through hospitality, opening homes and tables
Some through financial generosity, giving gifts that cannot be repaid
Some through physical help, strength offered to those who need it
Whatever gifts you have at your disposal are a form of God’s grace waiting to become visible. And when they do - Christmas will show up; your December will take on new meaning this year.
Imagine entering every holiday environment—the office party, the classroom, the neighborhood gathering, the family reunion—asking:
“How can the grace of God appear here?”
You could walk in with a mission: to offer favor, gifts to people who cannot repay you.
That is Christmas.
When You Give, You Receive
Here’s the paradox of the season:
When you help grace show up, you end up receiving what everyone else is striving for.
Those magical moments where heaven touches earth
The meaning your soul aches for
The comfort deeper than nostalgia
These don’t come from perfect plans. They come from grace—freely given.
Some of the richest Christmas moments happen when someone receives what they didn’t deserve, what they didn’t earn, what they never expected.
When grace appears, Christmas appears.