Friday, December 31, 2004
Seventh Christmas Day
Luke 2:10-11 I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
THE REAL MESSAGE OF CHRISTMAS
There were two different conflicting messages proclaimed during the Christmas Season -- I wonder if you noticed them and how they differed. On the one hand there were those who, filled with holiday cheer, tell us and their kids all about a certain guy in a red suit. This fellow, they claim, "sees you when you are sleeping, knows when your awake, and knows if you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake." They say that Christmas is all about being good people and earning gifts by being good during the year -- gifts distributed by the chubby guy in the suit.
Then on the other hand, we spend our time talking about the gift of a certain baby Jesus, a baby whose birth was announced like this: "I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." Although we don't talk about it during the Christmas Season, this Jesus is able to see us when we are sleeping and when awake. He truly knows when we have been bad and good. But we don't say that Christmas is all about being good people to earn good gifts from Him -- even though all of our gifts really do come from the Christ-child.
Really, if we would take an honest look at the past year, then we will admit that for another year in a row, we have done more evil than good. We have sinned. We really don't deserve the riches we enjoy. So look again at the greatest gift of all, the tag says: "there is born to YOU...a Savior, Christ the Lord." The Good News that needs to be proclaimed during Christmas and during the rest of the year too is that God has provided a Savior from sin and evil -- Jesus Christ.
We have heard the Real Message of Christmas! Christmas is not about getting something because we have been good, it's about the good news that God didn't give us what we deserved -- instead He sent us a SAVIOR, the Savior Jesus -- to save us because we could not save ourselves. It's also the message we all desperately need in the New Year too. 