Through the miracle of His incarnation, He made God visible to us: “No one has ever seen God. The one and only Son, who is himself God and is at the Father’s side—he has revealed him” (John 1:18, CSB). Yet God’s Son did not merely bring the grace, justice, peace, love, and truth of God with His arrival, but also His eternal happiness.

In this video clip, Randy Alcorn and Greg Laurie discuss Christmas and things to remember to keep a perspective as a follower of Jesus.

When Jesus Christ came to Earth, one of the names given to him was Immanuel, which means “God with us.” The Incarnation means that God came down to live with us.

The Christmas season is Nanci’s and my favorite, even in a year—no, especially—in a year that has brought significant trials, including in the last three weeks the bad news about the spread of Nanci’s cancer and the death of our best friends’ thirty year old son. What better time to celebrate the good news than when you’re dealing with bad news?!

I love to say and hear “Merry Christmas.” But should I be offended and angry when I don’t? As Christians, what should our reaction be when our culture doesn’t affirm a Christian worldview and recognize the importance of Jesus Christ?

God is the Great Storyteller. With grand artistry, He brings forth a beautiful world in a spectacular universe. As the culmination of His creativity, He fashions Adam and Eve. They rebel against God, and evil enters the world. God promises a Redeemer, and with eagerness His people look for one to come forth triumphantly, overthrowing their enemies and set­ting up His kingdom. But the centuries pass without the Redeemer’s appearance.

We instinctively imagine that spending on ourselves will make us happiest. But our greatest joy actually comes when we give to others. It really is true what Jesus said: “There is more happiness in giving than in receiving” (Acts 20:35, GNT). 

As we enter the Advent season, there’s no more worthy subject to set our minds on than Jesus Himself. He is “the Alpha and the Omega…the Beginning and the End” (Revelation 22:13), the One this Christmas season is all about. (And the One the rest of the year should be about too!)

In this video, Randy Alcorn and Pastor Greg Laurie discuss Heaven, happiness and the holiday season at Harvest Christian Church in Riverside, CA.