Everything I know about Jesus, and everything I know about Christmas, leads me to believe that He would gladly trade the whole season for one lost soul. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not a Christmas cynic. I’ll be celebrating with tinsel, lights, stockings, and bows. We’ll read the Christmas passage from Luke’s gospel and bow our heads as a family to give honor to the One who came so long ago, yet lives today in our hearts. Our Christmas celebration will start and end with thanksgiving. I’m not advocating Christmas moderation or even shunning commercial overkill. I only suggest that the modern celebration of the holiday means far more to us than to Him.
The Bible contains many prophecies concerning Christ, and the Gospels record their fulfillment in Christ. Nowhere, from Genesis to Revelation, is Christmas (as we know it) prescribed.
The Christmas celebration is our invention. It does not figure in the feasts of the tabernacle, was not anticipated by the prophets, was not commanded by Jesus, nor instituted by Peter or Paul. The angels don’t “deck the halls with boughs of holly” so far as we can tell. The apostles didn’t leave the upper room to gather ‘round an evergreen. Christmas is our invention, and we invest the day, or the season, with meaning.
You might want to shake me and say… “Wake up! Christ was born on Christmas Day!” I would simply point out that we don’t know on what day He came to the world, and celebrating the greatest story ever told should not be confined to one day of our ancestor’s choosing. I’m simply saying… He’s bigger than Christmas! I’m calling for more, not less.
So… we’ve got some time off for a holiday, let’s make it a holy day. We’ve got huge traditions that fuel good will and peace on earth… let’s celebrate and lead the parade. But let’s not confine the most important moment in all of time to a day, or season.
Giving gifts should not be extraordinary behavior for Christian people, nor limited to Christian “holy” days. Shouldn’t we be people who are moved by God to generosity in July as well as December? Is a token of love and appreciation ever really out of season? Shouldn’t we marvel at “God with us, Immanuel” when September leaves are falling? Must we, to steal a lyric, “save it all for Christmas day?”
Only seventeen days ‘til Christmas. Why not start our celebration now? How about a few moments of sincere prayer, with thanks, followed by loving activity that gives evidence of Christ in us.
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