God’s Christmas Gift
It’s that time of the year again when we in North America celebrate the biggest winter celebration of all. We call it Christmas. It is a great time of the year and we celebrate it in various ways. We celebrate with religious observances with Church services and programs. We celebrate in a secular way with gifts to each other and with food and parties and family get togethers. We celebrate with giving to others and to charitable agencies more than we do all year. And we celebrate socially by spending time with family and friends.
Christmas has it detractors. The name “Christmas” comes from a Roman Catholic celebration called “Christ’s Mass.” The date on which we celebrate probably comes from the time of the winter solstice when the birth of the “sun god” was celebrated centuries ago. Many years ago pagan customs came into the church as the church was elevated to a place of prominence in the Roman Empire and some of those customs are still part of our culture today like in the names we use for the months and for the days on our calendars and for some of our holidays and religious festivals.
I like Christmas. I like the way the attitudes of many people change to become more caring and more generous. I know it’s easy to get carried away with the many activities and some times we stretch our budgets and stretch our physical and emotional strength beyond what we should, but we often wind up with fond memories of the season.
We don’t know for sure when Jesus was born. Folks who work with the old Jewish calendar and the cycle of the priesthood and service of the Temple have come up with a date which would fall some time in our autumn time frame. The actual day is not important. What is important is that our God sent us a special gift over 2000 years ago. That gift arrived in a stable or animal shelter in Bethlehem in the form of a child given to a Jewish couple. The baby was different from all others before or since. He had a Jewish mother but God Himself was the Father. The baby was wrapped in “swaddling clothes” instead of bright gift wrap. The baby was the Word made flesh. God, the eternal Spirit, wrapped Himself in a body of flesh. God, all the while remaining God and not losing His Deity, took on a human nature and the person we know as Jesus Christ is Emmanuel --God with us.
Some 33 years after that birth, the Son of God was crucified. God’s special gift was hung on a tree. So when you look at your Christmas tree and admire the lights and ornaments, think of a rugged cross on a hill outside Jerusalem thousands of years ago where our special Christmas Gift was nailed to a tree to bring salvation to you and to me. When you exchange gifts with one another think of the gift of eternal life which our God has given us. And when you wonder what you might give Him, remember His request in
Proverbs 23:26 where He says, “My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.”
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