O Come, Let Us Adore Him! 50 Religious Christmas Quotes

The anticipatory lead-up to Christmas involves checking off shopping lists, stuffing stockings, and brainstorming recipes. However, for those in the Christian faith community, the holiness of the holiday is what they seek and strive to regard with the greatest significance. In a time of rampant commercialism and distraction, the message of the manger stands out in stark contrast. Interested in emphasizing the true reason for the season? Look no further than these 50 religious Christmas quotes. 

Although the end of December tends to fly by quickly, for those of the Christian faith, it's a time to take a breath and reflect on what the religious celebration is really about. From the stable to salvation, the Christmas story is centered on the birth of Jesus Christ and what His coming to earth has meant and still means for all of humanity. And while as nice as it is to give and receive gifts as part of our annual festivities, the ultimate gift was given to the world through God the Father sending His Son.

Believers around the world rejoice over the miraculous, good news of Christmas. Enjoy reading through these insightful, faith-filled Christmas quotes that are sure to inspire you this season!

Related: 25 Christmas Prayers and Blessings

50 Christian Christmas Quotes

1. "If Christmas is just a nice legend, in a sense you are on your own. But if Christmas is true, then you can be saved by grace.” —Timothy Keller

2. "The brightest Christmas ever was lit by a single star and swaddled in the most drab colors, but offered mankind the greatest gift of all...true and lasting love.” ― Toni Sorenson

3. "If you desire to find the true spirit of Christmas and partake of the sweetness of it, let me make this suggestion to you. During the hurry of the festive occasion of this Christmas season, find time to turn your heart to God. Perhaps in the quiet hours, and in a quiet place, and on your knees—alone or with loved ones—give thanks for the good things that have come to you, and ask that His Spirit might dwell in you as you earnestly strive to serve Him and keep His commandments. He will take you by the hand and His promises will be kept.” — Howard W. Hunter

4. "For, first, the birth of Christ was the incarnation of God: it was God taking upon himself human—a mystery, a wondrous mystery, to be believed in rather than to be defined.” — Charles Spurgeon

5. "So God throws open the door of this world—and enters as a baby. As the most vulnerable imaginable. Because He wants unimaginable intimacy with you. What religion ever had a god that wanted such intimacy with us that He came with such vulnerability to us? What God ever came so tender we could touch Him? So fragile that we could break Him? So vulnerable that His bare, beating heart could be hurt? Only the One who loves you to death.” — Ann Voskamp

6. "The great challenge left to us is to cut through all the glitz and glam of the season that has grown increasingly secular and commercial, and be reminded of the beauty of the One who is Christmas.” — Bill Crowder

7. "For Christians, Christmas is a celebration of Jesus’ birth — that light has come into darkness and, as the Gospel of John says, 'the darkness could not overcome it.'” — Tish Harrison Warren

8. "Look to Jesus this Christmas. Receive the reconciliation that he bought. Don’t put it on the shelf unopened. And don’t open it and then make it a means to all your other pleasures. Open it and enjoy the gift. Rejoice in him. Make him your pleasure. Make him your treasure.” — John Piper

9. "It comes every year and will go on forever. And along with Christmas belong the keepsakes and the customs. Those humble, everyday things a mother clings to, and ponders, like Mary in the secret spaces of her heart.” ― Marjorie Holmes

10. "And when we give each other Christmas gifts in His name, let us remember that He has given us the sun and the moon and the stars, and the earth with its forests and mountains and oceans--and all that lives and move upon them. He has given us all green things and everything that blossoms and bears fruit and all that we quarrel about and all that we have misused--and to save us from our foolishness, from all our sins, He came down to earth and gave us Himself.” — Sigrid Undset

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11. "For it is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child himself." — Charles Dickens

12. “Thousands each year find their desire for salvation and holiness becoming too acute to bear, and turn to the One who was born in a manger to die on a cross. Then the fleeting beauty that is Christmas enters their hearts to dwell there forever. For who is it that imparts such beauty to the Christmas story? It is none other than Jesus, the Altogether Lovely.” ― A.W. Tozer

13. "God chose the stable for His Son to be born in for a very important reason. You see, when God sent His only Son to live on this earth, He made a strategic decision not to shelter Him from the harsh realities of this life. God had no intention of shielding His Son by having Him born into the make-believe world of the rich and famous. God wanted His Son to experience life in its blue-collar boldness. … From day one, God the Father determined not to shelter His Son from the rude, crude realities of life on planet earth. … For our sake, Jesus was given no aristocratic advantage. He had humbler beginnings than any of us. He was born into a real family, and He worked a real construction job. He lived in a neighborhood. He had real friends. He suffered hardship like the rest of us have, and He died a cruel death for a crime He didn’t commit. So when the Bible urges people who are going through disappointment and pain to pour their hearts out to the now-ascended Savior, we Christians can do so with the absolute assurance that Jesus understands. He’s been there.” — Bill Hybels

14. "We celebrate the first Christmas because we know there’s a second coming." — Matt Chandler

15. "[Christmas] means not just hope for the world, despite all its unending problems, but hope for you and me, despite all our unending failings." — Timothy Keller

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16. "Christmas is based on an exchange of gifts, the gift of God to man – His unspeakable gift of His Son, and the gift of man to God – when we present our bodies a living sacrifice.” — Vance Havner

17. "The joy of the Christmas message is so much richer, deeper, and more beautiful than any other story that has ever been told. Glory was wrapped in flesh and dwelt among us, so that we could be wrapped in righteousness and dwell with God. Jesus lived a perfect life so that He could be the perfect sacrifice for all that is wrong both in our own lives and in the world. Without Jesus our belief has no merit, our faith has no basis, and hope has no anchor. In Jesus, we find the joy of believing.  In Jesus, we find the substance of our faith.  In Jesus, we know this to be a season of hope." — Melissa Kruger

18. "Mary didn’t praise God because she was excited and unafraid. She praised God because she knew what was true, and she was choosing to hope in it. What this tells us is that Christmas is not about feelings. It’s not about nostalgia or parties or 'all the feels'. Advent and Christmas are about proclaiming what we know is true. This is a season when we praise God and thank God for what He has done and what He will do, not because it’s how we feel, but because it’s true." — Sharon Hodde Miller

19. “I truly believe that if we keep telling the Christmas story, singing the Christmas songs, and living the Christmas spirit, we can bring joy and happiness and peace to this world.” — Norman Vincent Peale

20. "When we were children we were grateful to those who filled our stockings at Christmas time. Why are we not grateful to God for filling our stockings with legs?" — G.K. Chesterton

21. "He was created of a mother whom He created. He was carried by hands that He formed. He cried in the manger in wordless infancy. He, the Word, without whom all human eloquence is mute.” — Saint Augustine

22. "This is the message of Christmas: Because He loves us, God has come to redeem us—to bring life and color back to our lives, to expel the darkness of our hearts and from our world. On a rescue mission designed by His Father before time began, Jesus silently slipped into our world, breathed our air, felt our pain, became acquainted with our sorrows, suffered and died for our sins . . . to show us the way out of our darkness and into His glorious light. This Christmas, may you know the warmth of the Savior's love spreading over you as you never have before. May the beauty of the season remind you of His intense concern for every detail of your life and His great, sacrificial love for you." ― Chuck Swindoll

23. "Christmas celebrates the awesome and amazing fact that God is grander, wiser and more mysterious than we could have ever imagined." — Dan Schaeffer

24. "What do we truly want from this season? What do we put our hope in that makes the season merry? What do we long to have that makes Christmas a favorite time of year? A thousand other answers subtly (or overtly) compete with this: 'To us a child is born, to us a son is given' (Isaiah 9:6). Our battle is to get underneath all the commercialism and consumerism, to actually experience Christ Jesus, our Savior, who has come — and who will come again." — Matt Chandler

25. "Best of all, Christmas means a spirit of love, a time when the love of God and the love of our fellow men should prevail over all hatred and bitterness, a time when our thoughts and deeds and the spirit of our lives manifest the presence of God." — George F. McDougall

Related: 100 Bible Verses That'll Lift Your Spirits

26. "What are you going to find this Christmas? I’ll tell you what you’re going to find: you’ll find what you’re looking for. … And there’s no better time than Christmas to become the kind of seekers the wise men embodied. Wise people still seek Christ.” — Rick Warren

27. "How many observe Christ's birthday! How few, His precepts!” — Benjamin Franklin

28. "He came, not as a flash of light or as an unapproachable conqueror, but as one whose first cries were heard by a peasant girl and a sleepy carpenter. God tapped humanity on its collective shoulder, 'Pardon me,' he said, and eternity interrupted time, divinity interrupted carnality, and heaven interrupted the earth in the form of a baby. Christianity was born in one big heavenly interruption." — Max Lucado

29. "I love the music of Christmas, because these songs remind us of God's amazing love for you and me." — Charles Stanley

30. "I'm suspending expectations, fortifying my heart in the quiet moments, drawing close to the very old story of a young couple, a baby on the way, an unexpected journey—an unexpected life, really, for Mary & Joseph. I’m drawing close to the heart of Advent—the waiting, the darkness, the holding on for hope that we believe but that we cannot yet see. Here’s to opening our weary hearts to the unexpected, the strange & lovely, the disruptive & beautiful all around us." — Shauna Niequist

31. "Once in our world, a Stable had something in it that was bigger than our whole world." — C.S. Lewis

32. "That is my prayer for you this Christmas—that you would experience the fullness of Christ; that you would know in your heart the outpouring of grace upon grace; that the glory of the only Son from the Father would shine into your heart to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ; that you would be amazed that Christ can be so real to you.” — John Piper

33. "All the Christmas presents in the world are worth nothing without the presence of Christ." — David Jeremiah

34. "Want to keep Christ in Christmas? Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, forgive the guilty, welcome the unwanted, care for the ill, love your enemies, and do unto others as you would have done unto you.” — Steve Maraboli

35. "Faith is salted and peppered through everything at Christmas. And I love at least one night by the Christmas tree to sing and feel the quiet holiness of that time that's set apart to celebrate love, friendship, and God's gift of the Christ child.” ― Amy Grant

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36. “You’ve stood where Joseph stood. Caught between what God says and what makes sense. You’ve done what He told you to do only to wonder if it was Him speaking in the first place. You stared into a sky blackened with doubt. And you’ve asked what Joseph asked. You’ve asked if you’re still on the right road. You’ve asked if you were supposed to turn left when you turned right. And you’ve asked if there is a plan behind the scheme. Things haven’t turned out like you thought they would. Each of us knows what it’s like to search the night for light. Not outside a stable, but perhaps outside an emergency room. On the gravel of a roadside. On the manicured grass of the cemetery. We’ve asked our questions. We’ve questioned God’s plan. And we’ve wondered why God does what He does. The Bethlehem sky is not the first to hear the pleading of a confused pilgrim. If you are asking what Joseph asked, let me urge you to do what Joseph did. Obey.” — Max Lucado

37. "There’s no better time of the year to enjoy the color that enhances our streets. At no other time of the year do the faces of little children glow with such wonder. And there’s nothing like the music of Christmas! They’re playing our songs in grocery stores, elevators, shopping malls, and on every radio station: 'Joy to the world! The Lord is come.' They’re talking about our Savior. It’s our message on their lips. Have you noticed? Don’t miss that!" ― Chuck Swindoll

38. "Jesus was born into a feeding trough that nourished the bodies of animals so that He could feed the souls of men.” ― Craig D. Lounsbrough

39. "There has been only one Christmas -- the rest are anniversaries." — W.J. Cameron

40. "We consider Christmas as the encounter, the great encounter, the historical encounter, the decisive encounter, between God and mankind. He who has faith knows this truly; let him rejoice.” — Pope Paul VI

41. "You can never truly enjoy Christmas until you can look up into the Father’s face and tell him you have received his Christmas gift.” — John R. Rice

42. "The Almighty appeared on earth as a helpless human baby, needing to be fed and changed and taught to talk like any other child. The more you think about it, the more staggering it gets. Nothing in fiction is so fantastic as this truth of the Incarnation.” — J.I. Packer

43. "Christmas means that, through the grace of God and the incarnation, peace with God is available; and if you make peace with God, then you can go out and make peace with everybody else. And the more people who embrace the gospel and do that, the better off the world is. Christmas, therefore, means the increase of peace—both with God and between people—across the face of the world." — Timothy Keller

44. "God is here. This truth should fill our lives, and every Christmas should be for us a new and special meeting with God, when we allow his light and grace to enter deep into our soul.” — Josemaría Escrivá

45. "He who carved the edges of the cosmos curved Himself into a fetal ball in the dark, tethered Himself to the uterine wall of a virgin, and lets His cells divide, light splitting all white. He gave up the heavens that were not even large enough to contain Him and lets Himself be held in a hand. The mystery so large becomes the Baby so small, and infinite God becomes infant.” — Ann Voskamp

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46. "Let God determine the best way to lead you to His Son. The wise men would probably have preferred a more personalized kind of guidance, but the point is they were responsive to the guidance God provided. We should be too, however it comes, through whomever it comes.” — Bill Hybels

47. "Our God is the God of the unexpected. A few things could be more unexpected than the King of heaven being born in a stable." — Bill Crowder

48. "Mary knew God loved her. From the moment Gabriel appeared to her, Mary has a distinct sense that God’s presence was with her and His hand upon her. She didn’t understand everything that was happening, but she was certain that God would be with her through it all.” — Stormie Omartian

49. "Off to one side sits a group of shepherds. They sit silently on the floor, perhaps perplexed, perhaps in awe, no doubt in amazement. Their night watch had been interrupted by an explosion of light from heaven and a symphony of angels. God goes to those who have time to hear him–and so on this cloudless night he went to simple shepherds.” — Max Lucado

50. "It is impossible to conceive how different things would have turned out if that birth had not happened whenever, wherever, however it did … for millions of people who have lived since, the birth of Jesus made possible not just a new way of understanding life but a new way of living it. It is a truth that, for twenty centuries, there have been untold numbers of men and women who, in untold numbers of ways, have been so grasped by the child who was born, so caught up in the message he taught and the life he lived, that they have found themselves profoundly changed by their relationship with him.” — Frederick Buechner

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