CHRISTmas..

This is the season to be jolly...... Jingle bells jingle bells...... Silent night. I have to admit that I only sing and listen to these carols during the Christmas season and they usually sound great at this time of the year. So this will be my 23rd Christmas and I have seen the meaning of Christmas change for me over the years. When I was a kid it was that time of the year where we would accompany dad to go cut down a tree (we did not cause global warming) and then decorate it, get new clothes and go compare with what my mates got, have balloons hanging around the house and last but not least watch the movie "home alone". mmmmh the good old days. Then during my teenage age I thought it was lame getting new clothes for Christmas and hanging balloons in the house and Christmas lights so for me it meant it was that time of the year we would go out as a family and have access to an "all you can eat" buffet.
So what does it mean to me now?

It still means its a time I get to spend with family but what I missed to see was the reason why we had to celebrate Christmas. First I have a problem with the word X-mas because it removes Christ out of the picture (so when you are sending me Christmas messages change the X to Christ, I do not do algebra anymore). Picture this, Christ in all His majesty and splendor left His throne so that He would sleep in manger that night. Its like you been told to leave all the luxuries you have and  go live in a garbage dump so that you can give your home to someone else. How many of us would agree?  I know I wouldn't!

Isaiah7:14;Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

Luke 1:35:The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God

 John 3:16:“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

This was the beginning of God revealing His grace to us, Christ came so that we would be able to start over, so that no matter how much we would mess up we would still be able to come back to God and tell Him "We are sorry and ask for forgiveness" It meant that we would share in His glory, but this did not mean that we were now given a go-ahead to sin. No! it still remained that the wages of sin is death, what this meant was: Once we would ask for forgiveness and repent it meant us changing what we pursue, meaning we would stop pursuing sin and pursue Christ. It does not mean we will not fall but the difference now will be our hearts pursue what is true, right, noble and pure. Your life as a Christian is not based on you reciting a sinners prayer but for you to grab hold of the life that Christ has for you.

 1 Peter 3:18: For Christ died for sins once and for all, a good man on behalf of sinners, in order to lead you to God. He was put to death physically, but made alive spiritually.

Romans 4:25:He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.
Romans 5:6:You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.

 Romans 13:13:Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy.


If we would only understand how great that sacrifice was for God to give His ONLY son to die on the cross for us, for Christ to step down and live as a human being so that He would understand us then we would celebrate Christmas with Christ at the center of it. We would not waste money, food and we would not take these celebrations as an opportunity for us to get drunk and have wild parties,go crazy and have one night stands. (Yes we do get carried away!)
But we would take this time to open up our houses to strangers, to share with the less fortunate, visit the sick, the people in jail, mend broken relationships,spread the gospel, spend time with family and to thank God for giving us His son to die on the cross for us because He took our place on that cross. Now you will never know how much it cost for you to pay for your sins because He simply came and slept in a manger on Christmas day.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!