Weekly Devotional

December 21, 2025

WELCOME Subscriber First Name,
to our Finishing Well devotionals!

This Christmas weekend our devotional writer is CJ Sweeney, who's one of 13 in our Pastors Finishing Well group.

He is a great young guy with a wonderful wife and kids and comes from a "multiple generational ministry family".

When he told us a couple of years ago how he loves the simplicity of a "Charlie Brown Christmas", I knew which weekend I wanted to ask him to write for us!

Thanks, CJ for your faithfulness to God's people here in southern Indiana through the years.

And thanks for sharing with us how important it is "to get the story of the birth of Jesus, right"!

God bless you Finishing Well Family…

And may it be a wonderful week celebrating the birth of Jesus, the King of Kings & Lord of Lords....

May He be proclaimed at all of the Christmas Eve services at all of our area churches!

Love you all......

Merry Christmas,

george

My name is C.J. Sweeney, and I serve as the minister at Jeffersonville Christian Church. I have been in this role for eight years, alongside my wonderful wife and our two amazing five-year-old daughters. One of my passions in life is history, and I hold a Master of Arts in History from Liberty University. However, my main calling is in ministry, which has been a passion of mine from a young age—it runs in my blood, you could say. This legacy began with my grandpa, Loren Sweeney, and has continued through my dad, uncles, brothers, and sister, all of whom are involved in ministry in one form or another. Our family's desire is simple: to share the Gospel message with as many people as we can.

I love Christmas, the lights, decorations, spending time with family, and most importantly, Christmas movies. Growing up, we watched all the classics like White Christmas, It's a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, but one of my favorites was A Charlie Brown Christmas.

Charles Schulz explores many of the issues we deal with during this time of year: anxiety, depression, the commercialism of Christmas, and, most importantly, the question Charlie Brown would ask over and over: What is Christmas all about?

As I stated earlier, I love Christmas and all the STUFF around it. However, the STUFF can sometimes distract us from the reason for the season. 

In the TV special, Charlie Brown is writing a letter to Santa for his younger sister. As she ends her letter, she declares it would be easier if Santa would just send money in tens and twenties. Charlie Brown responds with disbelief that even his sister doesn’t seem to understand the whole Christmas season. As he walks away, Sally declares, “All I want is what I have coming to me, all I want is my fair share.” 

This statement had me thinking, what is it that we have coming, and what is our fair share? Scripture tells us in Romans 3:23 that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Three chapters later, Romans 6:23 tells us that “the wages of sin are death.” 

If we were honest with ourselves, we would understand that we have indeed sinned and that what we deserve, what we have coming, our fair share is death and eternal separation from the presence of God. However, Romans 6:23 tells us that while we deserve death for our sins, God has given us grace through Christ instead. “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 

Christmas, then, isn’t about getting stuff or even what we think we deserve. Christmas is the realization that we were given what we didn’t deserve and definitely not our fair share. 

This meaning of Christmas was one that Charlie Brown didn’t understand. The commercialism of Christmas blinded Charlie from seeing what Christmas was all about. All Charlie Brown could see was the light and decorations, and of course, the aluminum Christmas tree that had everyone obsessed. Charlie Brown, not being one to go with the norm, insists on buying a puny real tree instead of the aluminum tree everyone expected.

After everyone makes fun of Charlie Brown for his selection, Charlie Brown desperately yelled, “ISN'T THERE ANYONE WHO CAN TELL ME WHAT CHRISTMAS IS ALL ABOUT?” Linus, though earlier had trouble memorizing his lines for the play, quoted Luke 2 with ease as he stated, “I can tell you what Christmas is about, Charlie Brown.” 

Linus then does something he never does: he lets go of the blanket and boldly speaks, “And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.”

As Linus calmly walks over to Charlie Brown, “That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown." It was a mic drop moment before that was even a thing, a child quoting Luke 2 answers the question that plagued Charlie Brown and many others around this time of year.

Though the answer is simple, so many get it wrong. My daughter was watching Paw Patrol Christmas, and they claimed Christmas was about spending time with family and the ones you love. My daughter cries out, “Daddy, they’re wrong. They said Christmas was about family, but it's not, it's about Jesus’s birthday.” 

Kids understand some things better than we do, especially when we overcomplicate things like Christmas. While it is true that some have many reasons for celebrating this time of the year. None of those reasons is “the” reason for celebrating Christmas.

Christmas is not about the lights, the decorations, or even spending time with family. Christmas is about how one night in Bethlehem a baby was born, not just any baby, but our Savior which is Christ the Lord. The one who paid the price for our sin so that instead of getting our fair share, we receive grace, forgiveness, and love. This is why we celebrate Christmas, because Christmas leads to the cross. Christmas isn’t just when God came to earth, though that would be reason enough.

Christmas leads us to the cross where our Savior died for our sins, and Christmas leads us to an empty tomb because that Savior who died for our sins rose from the dead three days later, proving victory over sin and death. 

In the ending of the show, we see people coming around the puny Christmas tree, weighed down by a single ornament. In a moment, the tree is transformed from a puny tree to a beautiful Christmas Tree for all to share.

We are the tree once weighed down by sin, doomed for death, but Christ changes us, removes our sin, so we can share with everyone the Good News of the gospel. 

My prayer for everyone this year is that we find the true joy of Christmas that can only be found in our Savior. A Joy that can’t be taken away by wealth or circumstance, a joy that will surpass even the worst of situations or memories. My prayer is that we all know the joy of salvation that was born that first Christmas night.