Merry Christmas Eve Day! For many of us preparations for our family dinners and celebrations are mostly complete. Decorations are up, presents bought and the turkey and ham are ready for the oven. Everyone has their Christmas dresses and suits picked out and are ready for the big Christmas Eve Services...if they are going. Now, the question is..."is your heart prepared for eternity?" All those other preparations are good, but those are not the purpose we even have this holiday. We celebrate a birthday. The birthday of the King of kings!
This is a holiday for only Christians. Why anyone else celebrates is beyond me. Whether it's his "exact" day of birth or not is really not the point. Jesus is the reason for this whole hubbub. It is the day we celebrate the moment he came to earth in the form of a human (as in John 1:1-3...the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.) to walk out our daily lives to truly say he understands what we go through. I mean, he went through poverty, he went through diapers and potty training, growing pains and puberty. He probably even had acne. Man, he went through it all and got to the other side without sin. And that same power lives in us if we have given our lives over to him. Philippians 2:13 says that, "God is working in us giving us the desire to obey him and the power to do what pleases him." I like that...the Holy Spirit gives us the power to obey when we are struggling in our flesh. Awesome! And Jesus truly understands because he went through it, but he knew how to tap into the Holy Spirit to resist temptation to sin. Yeah! Cool!
Now back to Christmas. Do we really have any excuses? No! As believers, if all the "Holiday Season" was about was jingle bells, and decorated trees and family time giving gifts and eating big dinners, then sure...stress would be expected. But, I guess, I don't believe that Christmas is about all those things. I like decorations because they are pretty to look at, and the family time is special because many times, it's the only time we get to see some of them. But, too often it's a competition to see who can out give the other. As in who can spend the most, buy the biggest or most expensive gifts. This is not a good practice. The whole point of giving gifts was to be a symbol of the most precious gift...Jesus. I believe that Christmas in many ways has been reduced to commercialism and greed. How much can I spend and how much will I get back. And That makes me sad. It also makes me want to rebel against the whole thing sometimes. But, we have made it very clear to our children and the rest of our family what we believe about Christmas. So, we celebrate with our children and my mother the birthday of our King and we exchange small gifts and eat a feast fit for a King. We praise the One who deserves our highest praise and pray for all those who don't know Jesus as Lord and Savior of their lives.
So who is the REASON FOR THE SEASON? Jesus!
Why is the REASON FOR THE SEASON? Love!
What is the REASON FOR THE SEASON? Salvation!
I am prepared for Christmas. I am prepared for the Coming of my Savior...what a celebration that will be. Are you? If not, ask Jesus to come into your heart and prepare you for a Christmas celebration like you've never experienced before. This could be the best Christmas of your life. To know the very One whom Christmas is about. Incredible! I have 7 people who died this year and most if not all of them knew Jesus as their savior and are celebrating like never before! So...Florence, Kerri, Alex, Trevor, Joyce, Dennis, and Auntie Jo...I dedicate this Christmas celebration to you! We will miss you greatly but we know you are celebrating in a way we can't until we meet Jesus face to face however that happens.
Now...blessings to all of you!
Celebrate Jesus!
Celebrate Love!
And Merrrrrrry Christmas!
Love Jodi