Christ Was Born to Save
2023 First Presidency’s Christmas Devotional
Sunday, December 3, 2023
I love Christmas! The scriptural account, the music, and the feelings of goodwill and generosity seem to flood much of the earth during this sacred time.
Over the years, my wife and I have been in several countries during the Christmas season. We have loved seeing the various customs and different ways Christmas is celebrated. Thinking about these experiences helped me realize that Christmas is for everyone. It is for children, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. It is for people whose lives are running smoothly and for those living with illness, poverty, and trials. It is for those afflicted with the horrors of war and for those who live in peaceful, prosperous circumstances. It is for those who are trying to follow the Savior, for those who have never heard His name, and even for those who reject Him. It is also for those who lived before He was born. Christmas is for everyone!
Christmas is for everyone because God sent His Son for all of us and for each of us.1 “For unto us a child is born.”2
Because the Savior was born, lived a sinless life, atoned for us, and was resurrected, each of us receives the great gift of resurrection from the dead. Not one soul who ever lived on the earth is deprived of this remarkable gift. In addition to this gift, “eye hath not seen, nor ear heard … the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”3
No matter the time period or the circumstances, the birth of the Savior has always been a reason to rejoice. He came to offer each of Heavenly Father’s children “peace in this world, and eternal life in the world to come.”4
Since the time of Adam and Eve, righteous people have looked to the birth of the Savior, who makes possible the fulfillment of the Father’s plan for His children.5 Isaiah and Nephi prophesied of His birth in the context of His mission.6 His birth can’t be separated from the reason He came to earth.
Think of Anna and Simeon, who saw the baby Jesus and realized that this baby was “a light to lighten”7 the whole world and the hope for redemption.8 No wonder the angel designated the message “good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.”9 We rejoice when any baby is born, but this birth and this baby were different.
Jesus Christ, the very light and life of the world, was born a tiny baby in a lowly stable, yet a new star signaled his birth. The Book of Mormon tells of a dramatic event—a day, a night, and a day with no darkness—which signaled His coming. These miraculous signs were given to herald the advent of the Light of the World,10 who would deliver us from the darkness of sin and death. We can help share His light with the world.
At Christmastime, even small children can feel the influence and effect of our Savior’s love. A number of years ago, one of our daughters, Sonja, wrote about a conversation she had with her five-year-old son.
She wrote, “Andrew said to me tonight when I was putting him to bed, ‘Next year, I’m going to not focus so much on the presents, but I’m going to focus on what I’m giving to Jesus.’ I asked him where he got such an idea, and he told me from his Primary teacher. Hooray for Primary!”11
Yes. Hooray for Primary. Now, 14 years later, Andrew is serving a mission and spending this Christmas season giving the message of Jesus Christ to others. He recently wrote, “Jesus has given us everything … [and] will take all our sins. That’s why I’m here on a mission.”12
The Christmas season is a special time to think of what is most important to give. We may be able to help others sense the “thrill of hope”13 that results from coming to know the Savior and offering our hearts to Him.
Our daughter Alisa passed away from cancer several years ago, and I love her perspective about Christmas, even as she faced a grim health prognosis. One year she wrote:
“I did get a surprise for Christmas. A huge one. … I got an email right before Christmas from the nurse at my oncologist’s office. He said, ‘Merry Christmas—your tumor tested positive for [a specific genetic] mutation.’ … What does that mean for me? They approved … a medication … that interferes with the signaling pathways of the cancer cell [for some who have that mutation]. It is not a cure, but a miraculous drug that can shrink … tumors quickly. … Unfortunately, eventually the body finds a way around it, and the cancer comes back. … But I felt like someone just handed me months of extra life. And what could that be? … An extra summer? Another holiday season with my babies? I cried when I opened the email and thanked God for the best surprise I’ve ever had.”14
Alisa did get more precious time with her family. She shared an experience their family had while delivering an anonymous Christmas gift to a neighbor. It illustrates that every detail of our gift-giving may not always be perfect. She wrote:
“We dropped off a secret … present the other night. The boys planned out their best getaway moves and hiding places.
“‘But just in case they see us …,’ Sam said seriously, and the other two leaned in nervously. ‘We better have some snowballs in our hands.’
“James got it. ‘Okay, right. To hit the door to swing it shut?’
“‘No,’ [Sam replied], ‘we go for their face.’”15
Alisa shared a more tender exchange with her youngest son, Luke, who was just six years old at the time. She wrote:
“So tonight as we were laying in his bed illuminated by the colored string of lights above his window, I asked him … , ‘Well, what do you want to ask … for?’
“‘Well, I can think of something.’
“‘Oh?’
“‘It can be used in all the seasons.’
“‘Oh?’
“Dramatic pause. ‘A hug and a kiss from mommy.’
“That deserved 100 tiny kisses and great big bear hugs on the spot. ‘Silly Luke, you can have that any old time!’
“But as I walked out the door my heart sunk a little. I guess that may not necessarily be true. I feel very grateful that this year he can have that and presents too.”16
I was particularly struck by Alisa’s thoughts about the hope surrounding Christmas. She wrote:
“I have been fascinated with hope this season. As I think about the miracle of Christ and the many gifts of God, I feel hope for everything and everyone. Not necessarily the kind of hope that everything will be perfect, but that everything will be okay, and eventually goodness prevail[s]. In all our lives. I don’t think it’s ever too late for miracles, for change, for peace. I really believe that deep down inside and all over. I will admit it seems easier to feel this hope for others, harder to apply it to myself. But I am learning. ‘Believe all things, hope all things, endure all things.’ Simple. Beautiful.”
Speaking of her son, she continued, “James on Christmas Eve playing for me [a Christmas song and I] love the words to this song:
Good Christian men, rejoice
With heart, and soul, and voice.
Now ye need not fear the grave:
Peace! Peace!
Jesus Christ was born to save.
Calls you one and calls you all
To gain His everlasting hall.
Christ was born to save!
Christ was born to save!”17
He was born to save. To save you and to save me. What an incomparable gift that can only be given by Him. No matter our current circumstances, may we more fully sense His gifts in our lives this Christmas season.
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.