December gets messy, yeah?
People say Christmas is the “season of love,” but sometimes it feels like the season of short tempers, long lines, and people losing their salvation in the Target parking lot.
But here’s the real truth:
Christmas is about love — but the uncluttered kind.
Not the Hallmark, fake-snow, everyone-smiling kind.
The Jesus kind.
The costly, simple, humble, “God stepped into your mess” kind.
Christmas is God saying:
“I’m coming for you — because I love you.”
Let’s step into that today.
Luke 2:1–7 1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree…
4 Joseph also went up from Galilee… to Bethlehem…
6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born,
7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped Him in cloths and laid Him in a manger…
Nothing glamorous.
Nothing polished.
Nothing Instagram worthy.
God — the God who created galaxies — enters the world in a feeding trough, born to two exhausted young parents, in a cramped and noisy place that smelled like livestock breath.
Why?
To make love accessible.
To make love undeniable.
To make love uncluttered.
I. GOD’S LOVE IS SIMPLE — WE’RE THE ONES WHO MAKE IT COMPLICATED
John 3:16 — we know it, we quote it, we see it on rainbow-painted cardboard at football games:
“For God so loved the world…”
Not “God loved the world once it got its act together.”
Not “God loved the people who behaved.”
Not “God loved the ones who kept their December schedules clean.”
No — God so loved the world.
The whole messy, broken, chaotic world.
We complicate faith.
We clutter it with:
• expectations
• guilt
• religion
• rules
• comparison
• fear
But God’s love?
He keeps it simple.
Illustration: “Firefighters”
I have a Son-In-Law that is a firefight in Wichita, KS. I remember he told me once about that in an emergency, people get overwhelmed because they start thinking about everything at once — the smoke, the heat, the shouting, the panic. But the first rule they teach rookies?
“Focus on the door in front of you. One step. One rescue. Keep it simple.”
That’s how they save lives.
Not by overthinking.
Not by running seventeen scenarios.
By doing the simple thing faithfully.
Same with God’s love.
We try to dissect it, analyze it, question it, make charts and diagrams out of it.
But God keeps it beautifully straightforward:
He loved — so He gave.
Simple. Strong. Steady.
Just like that firefighter focusing on the one door that matters.
II. GOD’S LOVE SHOWS UP WHERE YOU LEAST EXPECT IT
If you or I were running the birth of the Messiah, we’d pick:
• a palace
• a hospital
• a clean environment
• good lighting for selfies
• at least one scented candle
But God goes to the bottom.
To the margins.
To a barn.
Why?
So nobody could say:
“I’m too messed up for God.”
“I’m too poor.”
“I’m too broken.”
“I’m too sinful.”
“I’m too late.”
Christmas is God looking the whole world in the face and saying:
“I will meet you right where you are.”
1 John 4:9 —“This is how God showed His love… He sent His one and only Son into the world…”
Into the world — not away from it.
Into the noise — not after it quieted down.
Into the mess — not once it was cleaned up.
God’s love doesn’t wait.
It arrives.
III. GOD’S LOVE IS COSTLY — NOT CONVENIENT
1 John 4:10 —“This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”
Christmas is free for us — but it wasn’t cheap for Him.
It cost:
• the Son His glory
• Mary her reputation
• Joseph his plans
• God the Father His beloved
Love always costs something.
If it doesn’t cost, it isn’t love — it’s convenience.
And God never gave us convenience.
He gave us Christ.
Illustration: “The Carpenter’s Gift”
There was an old carpenter who used to build furniture for families in his small town. He wasn’t wealthy, and his tools were worn, but every Christmas he made one special toy for a kid whose family couldn’t afford presents.
One year someone asked him,
“Why do you put so much work into these gifts? Nobody pays you for them.”
He just smiled and said,
“Love always leaves a mark — on my hands, on my time, on my wallet… but it’s worth it.”
Every toy cost him hours.
Every toy cost him materials he didn’t have to spare.
Every toy cost something — because real love always does.
God’s love cost Him everything — and He gladly gave it.
The cross didn’t happen because it was convenient.
It happened because love pays.
IV. GOD’S LOVE CHANGES HOW WE LOVE OTHERS
1 John 4:11 —“Since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
Here’s where things get real.
Christmas isn’t just about receiving God’s love — it’s about reflecting it.
But our love gets cluttered too:
• grudges
• pride
• bitterness
• family drama
• old wounds
• unmet expectations
Some of us need to unclutter our hearts so we can love again.
God didn’t love you because you deserved it —
so you don’t wait for others to deserve it either.
This Christmas, the greatest witness you can give isn’t a perfect party —
it’s a heart full of grace.
V. LOVE MUST BE UNCLUTTERED TO BE POWERFUL
Love loses power when it gets buried under:
• busyness
• stress
• selfishness
• distraction
• perfectionism
Colossians 3:14 —“Above all these put on love…”
But you can’t “put on love” if you’re holding on to everything else.
Uncluttered love says:
• “I forgive you.”
• “Let’s start fresh.”
• “You matter.”
• “I’m here for you.”
• “You’re not alone.”
• “Jesus loves you — and so do I.”
Uncluttered love looks like Jesus.
HOW DO WE LIVE UNCLUTTERED LOVE THIS WEEK?
1. Let go of one grudge.
Release it. Drop it. Hand it to Jesus.
2. Slow down long enough to notice people.
Every person you pass is someone Jesus came for.
3. Speak love out loud.
A word. A call. A prayer. A blessing.
Love spoken changes atmospheres.
4. Make room in your heart for Jesus.
Not the “Sunday morning space.”
The actual, daily, lived-in space.
Because God’s love didn’t come wrapped in perfection —
It came wrapped in swaddling cloths.
That is LOVE UNCLUTTERED.
