The Christmas tree, usually just a decoration completing the holiday cheer inside homes in many places around the world, is just a tree to many. But really, it's so much more than that.

A Heartfelt Reminder

I was reminded of how much God loved me through our family Christmas tree. You see, my wife and I celebrated our third Christmas together this year, but this was the first time we've had a Christmas tree happily standing inside our home. We lined up in shops looking for additional ornaments, and with every little thing that we add and with every smile my beautiful wife makes, I am reminded of God's love for me.

I hope to share these few things with you.

1. The First Christmas Tree Was Decorated With Blood

Contrary to how we design our Christmas trees to be the most beautiful we could find, the first official Christmas tree – the tree where Christ Jesus hung on our behalf – wasn't beautiful at all. It was gory.

Christ carried that cross from the scourging place down to Golgotha, where He was going to be crucified. While I was waiting in line for the decorations, tired from the squeeze inside the shop, I can't stop but think about Christ carrying that old rugged and heavy cross for me and for everybody.

Unlike our tree which was decorated with balls and all the glittering things, Christ's cross had His blood dripping on it. It was gory, but the blood that saved me decorated it.

2. The First Christmas Culminated on That Tree

Christ's birth, the first Christmas, was because He was meant to die. Yes, He was born of a virgin to die for all sinful men including me and you. While our Christmas trees are designed to make our homes lively and our parties enjoyable, Christ knew that His coming would be a painful thing for Him.

Yet He went through it so that God's will would be fulfilled: that the Father could bring us back to Him through Christ (see 1 John 4:10).

While we are busy with all our Christmas breaks and all the enjoyment we have, Christ was aware that He was going to die a brutal and undeserved death (see John 3:14-15). He did that so that we could have life in Him, and have it abundantly (see John 3:16-17, 10:10).

3. The First Christmas Tree Is Where Christ Died – and Where My Life Begins

"And He died for all, that those who live should not from now on live for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again." (2 Corinthians 5:15)

As Christians who has died with Christ, we can no longer find our lives in ourselves. We find our lives where He died and consequently rose again. Our lives are rooted in Him, are hidden in Him, find their purpose in Him, and are completed by Him.

Yes, the Christmas tree inside our home just might be an ornament, but I'll never forget how much God loved me because of it.