For example, this morning I saw a commercial by a car dealer that proclaimed that the real meaning of Christmas was about giving and being thankful for what we have.  A nice thought for the moment, but obviously not the real meaning of Christmas.

Secular society knows a good thing and wants to enjoy the Christmas holidays along with everyone else.  It's a great break from all of the hubbub of the previous year, and it makes or breaks the retail industry.

Everyone loves hearing Christmas carols, going to Christmas parties, and watching Christmas movies on television, but most of the time these things have nothing to do with the real meaning of Christmas.

None of this is new, of course.  Christmas has grown a bit more secular every year, but over the past few years there has been an exponential increase in the efforts to remove the name of Jesus from public consciousness.
And so this year in this Christmas season, I would like to say why I am a believer. 

As with many Christians, I have gone through times in my life when, though I always was a believer, the strength of my faith varied.

But when I was in my late thirties, I read a book that solidified my concept of God and helped me to form a deeper resolve to serve him.  That book was A.W. Tozer's "Knowledge of the Holy".

It is so difficult for people to grasp who God really is, especially those who are not Christians.  Tozer's book made me much more observant of my surroundings and made me realize that Christianity is a religion that can be followed blindly just like any other, but also that Christianity is the only religion that does not have to be followed blindly.  There is a great deal of proof that Jesus is who he said he was and that God really exists.

One of the photographs taken from the Hubble telescope made me realize just how large God is.  The photo included about 40 galaxies, each of which were millions of light years across.  The caption below the photo explained that if you were to hold a grain of sand at arm's length, the area of sky that it covered represented the area of sky that was in the photograph.

I think of how vast our universe is, and how diverse - Hubble has shown us many spectacular varieties of stars and galaxies.  I try to imagine how it was created by God, and how God placed in all in perfect motion.

I look at the earth, how it is was engineered to be populated by mankind, how it is designed to sustain life, and how resilient it is to mankind's activities.

I think of how the earth gives up useful things to us, such as the materials we use to construct buildings and other structures, and how those materials have predictable properties.  Those properties allow us to design economical and efficient beams and columns, so that we know exactly how much weight can be placed upon them.

I look at the thousands of species of animal life and plant life on this planet, and how each one of them has its own unique characteristics.  In each of those species is a blueprint - its DNA - that insures a predictable life cycle.

I think of the human body, and how it too has a DNA blueprint, and how each human being is unique in their looks, personality, abilities, and fingerprints.

I look at my own children, am amazed at the miracle of birth, and how a human being becomes endowed with a soul by God.

I think about the archeological evidence that confirms the accuracy of the Bible, and how the Old Testament has been passed through thousands of years by scribes who copied the scrolls letter by letter to insure its accuracy. 

I think of the many prophecies in the Old Testament pointing to the coming of Jesus, and when, after secularists said that Old Testament must have been re-written to make the prophecies come true after the fact, the Dead Sea Scrolls proved that the copies we have today are the same as the originals.

I think of people like Josh McDowell, who with his genius intellect and photographic memory set out to disprove the Bible, only to conclude that Jesus really was who he claimed to be.

When you look at even these few examples of evidence, it's not difficult to believe in Christ.  So this Christmas, let's enjoy the season, but let's focus in on what Christmas really is all about - the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the Messiah, sent by God to give us eternal life with him.