I grew up in the deep south, where it seemed like there was a church on every corner. Many of these churches had buses that would pick up people and take them to Sunday school and/or worship services. Most buses had the name of the church written on the side. But what puzzled me most were two words written just above the windshield: “Jesus Saves.”

“Saves what,” I wondered. A friend of mine joked, “Jesus saves at the first national bank,” which made me chuckle, but failed to satisfy my curiosity. It would be years before someone explained to me what that phrase really meant. It wasn’t a “what” that Jesus saves, but a “who,” and that “who” was me.

The Christmas story is all about a Savior named Jesus. His arrival to planet earth was announced by an angel: “This very day in King David’s hometown of Bethlehem a Savior was born for you. He is Christ the Lord.” The central figure of Christmas is Christ and his coming to save us.

Jesus said his mission was to “seek and save the lost.” This “lostness,” the Bible explains, is a condition of having wandered from God and his standard of perfection. Our sin, which is our failure to live perfect lives, is what separates us from a perfect God. And so, Jesus came to search for and rescue people from sin’s penalty: death and eternal separation from God. The gift of Christmas is God so loving us that He sent His Son, Jesus, to make it possible for those who want to, to restore their relationship with God and live forever with Him. 

The Bible tells us that to accomplish this, Jesus didn’t just have to be born, but He also had to die in our place to pay the death-and-separation-from-God penalty for our sin. He willingly did this in 30 A.D. on a cross outside Jerusalem, because we humans are powerless to save ourselves. Just as a lifeguard saves one from drowning in an ocean, Jesus saves those who receive this gift of salvation from drowning in a sea of self-centeredness, self-gratification and self-reliance. Faith in Him changes us from the inside out.

But what about life beyond earth? I think we all agree that nobody wants to die. That’s because God has given everyone a desire to live forever. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says God has “set eternity in our hearts.” And that’s why the Christmas story is the best news ever; Jesus is holding out the gift of salvation – eternal life – to anyone who wants to take that priceless gift. Heaven is truly within our reach because Jesus the Savior has made it so.

I’m so glad I finally came to understand what that old church bus was talking about. It was describing the sole purpose of Christmas, which is summed up in the most popular hymn of all time: “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I am found; was blind but now I see.”

This year, may we all discover afresh the true meaning of Christmas and give thanks for God’s greatest gift of all, Jesus the Savior.

“Salvation comes no other way; no other name has been or will be given to us by which we can be saved, only this one – Jesus.” Acts 4:12

# # #