The Holidays (Thanksgiving and Christmas) are often tough times for a variety of people facing a variety of different circumstances. For my wife and I, we go up to Southern Idaho to visit our friends and family during Christmas, and I often visit my parents in Seattle during the in-between time of Thanksgiving and Christmas. For many people, they can’t visit their family members due to financial limitations, the death of a family member or other reasons. Additionally, people struggle with the Holidays because a couple may want a child and don’t yet have one, or they face depression or anxiety because of life situations and challenges.
The Aim and Direction of This Series
The aim of this new series Discovering Joy in Christ During the Holidays here at Servants of Grace is to help readers grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus during the Holiday Season by discovering or re-discovering the joy that Christ offers to His people in the gospel.
In this series, we want to speak to our readers on a wide range of topics to help them understand how they relate to the entire Christian life. To that end, you’ll hear from our writing team on issues like:
- Renewing your call to ministry.
- Friendship to the hurting during the holidays.
- Knowing the joy of Christ during the holidays.
- Joy in Christ during a busy season.
- Ministering to teens during the holidays.
- Anxiety and Joy during the holidays.
- Singleness during the holidays.
- Childlessness during the holidays.
- Good News of Great Joy in Christ Alone.
- Moving with the Military During the Holidays.
- Dysfunctional families and the Holidays.
- Sadness and Hope During the Holidays.
- Sharing Christ During the Holidays.
- The Wonder of Joy in Christ Alone.
- Keeping Focused on Christ During the Holidays.
- Depression and Hope During the Holidays.
- Discouragement and Christ During the Holidays.
- What To Do When the Holidays are Hard.
- Depression, Loneliness, and Anxiety During Christmas.
Now that you have some idea of where we are headed and the topics we are going to address, I want to share more of the heart behind this series.
Hope In Christ Alone During Every Season
As Christians, we have hope because of Christ. The Holiday season is a great time to gather together with family and friends. During Christmas, Christians celebrate the Virgin Born, sinless, Lord Jesus who came into our time and space to die the very death we justly deserve, to be buried, and rise again on the third day.
It’s my prayer that as you read these articles in this series, they will help you stay focused on what is most important- the Lord Jesus during the Holidays. We also pray if you don’t know the Lord Jesus the Lord may be pleased to use these articles to open your eyes to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus. Whether you are hurting or struggling today for a variety of life-circumstances, there is hope in Christ alone. The full fury of God the Father has forever been satisfied in the death of Christ alone, and now through His finished and sufficient work, Christians can know and make disciples of the Risen Christ in our local churches and beyond.
Wherever you are and whatever you have going on in your life today, it’s my prayer that you would know the Lord and that in Him there is comfort and hope in Christ alone for whatever is going in on in your heart and life. That is not only the most comforting thing it is also where our hope springs from as Christians. In a world that seeks after hope in all the wrong places, you and I as God’s people have hope to share in the new life that Christ has given to His people.
Our calling as Christians to make disciples is just as applicable during the Holiday season as it is in every season of the year. Let us remember, we have joy, not because of ourselves but because Christ who has come, has died, risen again, and now has ascended and will yet return in glory and power at His Second Coming. That is news you, and I as Christians have to share this season of year and in every season of the year as God’s people.
Dave Jenkins is happily married to his wife, Sarah. He is a writer, editor, and speaker living in beautiful Southern Oregon. Dave is a lover of Christ, His people, the Church, and sound theology. He serves as the Executive Director of Servants of Grace Ministries, the Executive Editor of Theology for Life Magazine, the Host and Producer of Equipping You in Grace Podcast, and is a contributor to and producer of Contending for the Word. He is the author of The Word Explored: The Problem of Biblical Illiteracy and What To Do About It (House to House, 2021), The Word Matters: Defending Biblical Authority Against the Spirit of the Age (G3 Press, 2022), and Contentment: The Journey of a Lifetime (Theology for Life, 2024). You can find him on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, or read his newsletter. Dave loves to spend time with his wife, going to movies, eating at a nice restaurant, or going out for a round of golf with a good friend. He is also a voracious reader, in particular of Reformed theology, and the Puritans. You will often find him when he’s not busy with ministry reading a pile of the latest books from a wide variety of Christian publishers. Dave received his M.A.R. and M.Div through Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary.
