This is part of the series The Gifts Of The Holidays: Celebrating Thanksgiving And Christmas. Read more from the series!

One of the most overlooked gifts of Christmas is the gift of forgiveness.

It’s too easy to get caught up in the commercialization of Christmas is America:

• The presents.
• The shopping.
• The parties.
• The expectations.
• The credit card bills.
• The food.
• The decorations.
• The family.

We have managed to turn the focus of Christmas away from Christ and onto ourselves. We’ve made it all about us. What we want. What we want to give. Where we want to go. How we want to celebrate.

But that is not the reason to celebrate.

The real reason (which I’m sure I don’t need to tell you…) is Christ. Jesus was born as a human, in the humblest possible way, taking the nature of man, so that he could save mankind.

The nativity story reveals the ultimate purpose of Christ’s rescue mission to earth.

After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. (Matthew 2:9-11)

When the magi arrived to visit the child, they presented three gifts: gold, because he is the King of Kings; incense, because he is our High Priest; and myrrh, a burial spice, because he would become our Sacrifice.

You see, the purpose of Christmas isn’t for us to get more stuff. Or even for us to give more stuff. The purpose of Christmas was so that Easter could happen.

Christ came to die.

Easter happened because Christmas did.

And Easter brought us the ability to be reconciled with God, being able to approach him face to face, with sin no longer a barrier between us.

With Christmas, Christ brought us forgiveness.

Do you tend to overlook the gift of forgiveness? What could you do to remember this gift this year? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.