And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
— Luke 2:10–11

I can’t imagine the fear the shepherds felt as the angels appeared to them in the middle of the night while they were tending to their flock of sheep. But those shepherds received some pretty good news on that night. News that, not just a savior, but The Savior had been born that day. After this was over and they had seen that Jesus had been born, they were celebrating, glorifying and praising God because they had seen that the angels were exactly right in everything they had told them.

The great news of this baby being born as the true Savior is news that we should rest in constantly. The only problem is that we don’t find rest in that nearly enough. We don’t see that Jesus is the only one that can make us holy, the only one that can make us righteous, the only one that can cover our failures, past, present and future. Jesus was not born for us to live in a constant state of fear, but in a constant state of knowing that, wherever we have failed in the past, we are still loved by him.

As we head into this week of Christmas, rest in the true meaning of why we celebrate. It is not about the gifts. It is not about the food. It is about the birth of this baby who is our one true Savior. Jesus is the reason for the season. Sure, it’s a cliché. But that doesn’t make it any less true.