What Christmas Reminds Us About the Truth We Keep Avoiding

Every December, something remarkable happens. Families gather, lights glow on neighborhoods, and even the busiest among us pause long enough to feel a sense of wonder. We call it the “Christmas spirit,” as if it were just a sentimental warmth that arrives with cookies and carols and leaves once the decorations are stored away.

But Christmas has a way of revealing a deeper truth — especially in a culture that increasingly claims to be “spiritual but not religious.” Because for all our talk about inner peace and personal truth, Christmas refuses to stay vague. It anchors us to something — Someone — real.

Today, we see the drift everywhere.

Cities now hold “holiday tree lightings.”

Schools avoid Christmas concerts.

Companies celebrate “winter giving.”

We have worked so hard to be inclusive that, ironically, we’ve excluded the very reason the season exists. The more we remove Christ from Christmas, the more confused the season becomes. We trade the Savior for sentimentality… and then wonder why joy feels thin and temporary.

It mirrors the broader trend of our time — a rise in spirituality with no desire for surrender. People want peace, meaning, grounding, and purpose. They want what faith promises without yielding to the God who provides it. Meditation, breathwork, “good vibes,” and self-discovery have replaced prayer, worship, and obedience.

But Christmas interrupts that pursuit.

It tells us spirituality is not something we create inside ourselves.

It began with God — because God came down to us.

“Spiritual but not religious” is often a sign that someone is searching. People long for something more, something sacred, something transcendent — but they resist the idea of a God who asks for devotion, repentance, and relationship.

Yet Christmas confronts us with a truth we cannot sidestep:

You cannot be spiritual while ignoring the God who created your spirit.

If being spiritual means caring about the soul or the deeper things of life, then spirituality requires a connection to the One who breathed life into us. And Christmas declares this boldly: Truth didn’t rise up from within us; Truth entered the world from above.

When you put God first — when you submit your ways to Him — life becomes clearer. Not easier, necessarily, but steadier. You begin to see purpose where there was confusion and peace where there was striving. Clarity follows surrender.

The mistake today is believing religion is merely an institution or weekly ritual. But being religious simply means aligning your life with God, letting His Word guide your steps, and walking in relationship with Him. All truly spiritual people are religious in this sense — because spirituality without God is just self-focus dressed in sacred vocabulary.

Christmas reveals this beautifully.

God didn’t send an idea.

He didn’t send good energy or inner light.

He sent His Son.

A Savior.

A Redeemer.

A King who arrived in humility so we could approach Him with humility.

Maybe that’s why Christmas still stirs something even in those running from faith. The lights, the generosity, the music — they point beyond themselves. They whisper a truth our hearts already know: we were made for relationship with God, not the vague spirituality of our age.

So as we walk through a season increasingly stripped of its meaning, may we gently but boldly remember — and remind others — that Christmas is not about inclusive language or generic celebrations.

It is about Christ.

It has always been about Christ.

And without Him, the season loses not just its name, but its purpose.

This Christmas, may we return to the truth our culture keeps avoiding:

Spirituality isn’t something you manufacture — it’s Someone you receive.

And His name is Jesus.