Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Christmas!

Christmas comes this time each year! I don't believe it is frequent enough. Not just because there are a lot of cool things you can do at Christmas, or because Christmas is a great time to party, but also because the story of Christmas never gets old.

I have a Christmas speech that I give each year at Christmas breakfast, and I use a 25-page manuscript. I am constantly tweaking this document that will certainly end up over 100 pages when I am done. Each year, I accent a certain part of the document, as the Christmas story is really just the focal point of all of Scripture, beginning with the first chapter where we were create in God's image.

Many people would say that the middle of a document is where you find the meat of that document. Certainly opening your Bible to the middle and landing on Psalm 8, where it talks about how we were created just a little lower than God. We were once again re-asserted as the rulers or dominion-holders of creation!

As great of a position as that is and as much dignity as it gives us, we are reminded frequently in our every day lives (at least I am) of the fact that we live in a cursed world. There is pain, suffering, tragedy, difficulty in cultivating, rampant depravity, anti-God sentiment, and people generally living godless lives. There are people who in just the last couple weeks have shot defenseless school children, shot those who protect us in shooting firefighters, or try to burn down a veterinarian office. Not to mention the slaughter of the unborn or recently born that occurs every day in America and China, to name a few.

The fact is that in order to overcome this curse, we needed someone to defeat it. That someone came in the person of baby Jesus in a stable a little over 2000 years ago. His life ended with him having conquered over a defeated death and a sting-less grave! While the curse has been defeated, we still look forward to the Consummation, where Christ will complete his "mop-up" work!

We sing about this great day in the great "Christmas" song Joy to World. When the "earth receives her King," and "No more let sins and sorrows grow, Nor thorns infest the ground; He comes to make His blessings flow Far as the curse is found"! The wonder of the great gift that we needed befuddles me to this day. Why Christ would come to die for my sin when I was still a rebel to His will, awes and amazes me. The Christmas celebration is celebrating the genesis of this gift.

While I need to recognize this all the time, I am thankful for the reminder of Christmas! I am thankful that Christmas is here. And I am sorry that beginning tomorrow, the world will return to its "normal" life and Christ becomes an afterthought for most. So, yeah, I wish Christmas was celebrated all year. But, O What a wonderful thing to celebrate!

No comments:

Post a Comment