Christmas!! I love this time of year, but first of all, I'd like to make a few things clear - I understand that Jesus most likely wasn't born on December 25 and how this all started off by being a pagan holiday and whatever else people say. Since this is what I'm used to, I have decided to use December 25th as a day to celebrate the birth of Christ Jesus. Actually, I use the entire month of December to celebrate His birth. When I was younger, I knew that Christmas was supposed to be Jesus' birthday but that wasn't my main focus. I loved writing out my Christmas list and seeing all the decorations going up. I scavenged through my toy boxes and desk drawers trying to look for presents for my family. It thrilled me to wrap everything up and see my pile of presents on the floor. Anything about Christmas excited me! When I became a Christian, I really tried to focus on Christ's birth but I still watched all the Christmas movies about Santa Claus and stuff because it made me get excited about Christmas. I don't think my parents ever really tried to get us to believe in Santa so I never did - I knew he was just a mascot for Christmas. I see articles online about how to incorporate both the nativity and Santa into the holiday for their kids but I don't understand why a Christian would even want to give Santa Claus any attention. It's ALL about the Savior! Last year, I tried to make Christmas all about Jesus' birth. Santa was out of the picture. I wanted to keep Christ in Christmas, that's the whole point of Christians celebrating it anyway. This year, however, I realized that there's even more to Christmas than just a baby in a manger. Don't get me wrong, the nativity story is beautiful with Mary and Joseph, baby Jesus, the shepherds, the star of Bethlehem, and everything else. Can you imagine how wonderful it would have been there with the shepherds and see Christ as a newborn baby? Looking down into the face of the Child - your Savior, Who would one day die on the cross for you. I don't want to worship Jesus only as a baby because He's not still a baby. It's a time to celebrate God sending us a Savior - the Lord Christ Jesus! He was born to live a perfect life so that He could die a cruel death as a sacrifice for our sins. The lyrics from the song "It's About the Cross" puts it like this:
Where the baby lay
It's not all about the angels
Who sing for him that day
It's not just about the shepherds
Or the bright and shining star
It's not all about the wisemen
Who traveled from afar
Chorus:
It's about the cross
It's about my sin
It's about how Jesus came to be born once
So that we could be born again
- "Joy to the world! The Lord is come! Let earth receive her King!" - We all should be filled with joy since God sent us His Son to be our Savior. He has come and we must receive Him with gladness, not just ignore the fact.
- "Oh come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord! - Yes! Let's all adore Him, not just the baby in a manger but Jesus Christ Himself for Who is is now and always will be! Praise Him with adoration!
- "Glorious now behold Him arise; King and God and sacrifice: Alleluia, Alleluia, sounds through the earth and skies." - He is glorious! He is our King, our God, and the sacrifice for our multitudes of sins. He is worthy so let's all praise Him! Alleluia!
- "Sing choirs of angels, sing in exultation; O sing, all ye citizens of heaven above! Glory to God, all glory in the highest." - God deserves all the glory!
- "And heaven and nature sing/While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains repeat the sounding joy." - Let all creation praise the Lord! He is worthy of it!!
Merry Christmas!