This Christmas when we celebrate, remember that the babe in the manger was God in human form;
When we ready our homes for the festivities, remember that the Son of God was born in a stable;
When we turn on our coloured lights, remember that it was a star that guided the Wise Men;
When we sing our carols, remember that the angels sang the first carol to shepherds in the fields watching their sheep;
When we exchange gifts, remember the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, signifying that He came as King, Priest and Saviour;
When we welcome family and friends, remember that there was no room for the Son of God;
When we look at the Christmas tree, remember the tree of Calvary on which He died;
When we look at the glittering decorations, remember His blood that was shed for all mankind;
When we think of Him at all this Christmas, remember that He gave His all … and asks nothing less in return.
When we ready our homes for the festivities, remember that the Son of God was born in a stable;
When we turn on our coloured lights, remember that it was a star that guided the Wise Men;
When we sing our carols, remember that the angels sang the first carol to shepherds in the fields watching their sheep;
When we exchange gifts, remember the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, signifying that He came as King, Priest and Saviour;
When we welcome family and friends, remember that there was no room for the Son of God;
When we look at the Christmas tree, remember the tree of Calvary on which He died;
When we look at the glittering decorations, remember His blood that was shed for all mankind;
When we think of Him at all this Christmas, remember that He gave His all … and asks nothing less in return.
Comments
I stumbl'd upon your journal whilst researching upon a subject of interest of mine. I could not help but notice your post, 'Christ In Christmas', & also of your wish for readers not to be afraid to comment thus.
After reading of your wish for no comments of a rude, inflammatory, harsh, abusive, blasphemous or disrespectful nature, I decid'd, after due contemplation of these points, to chuse to bring to your attention some small research I engag'd upon, with the aid of the scriptures, in addition to that of the 'internet', which medium we both enjoy the benefit of utilizing, on the topical subject of Christmas within a page of my journal, entitled 'The Star', which might possibly be of some interest to your good self, or to that of your dear readers.
Should such research of mine, in actual fact, be consider'd of little interest to your good self, pray note, that I offer, in advance, my humble apologies for disturbing you thus, & will comprehend fully your desire not to publish the same.
I am, &c.
Colonel Brandon.
Nature Diary
I do not expect all my readers to share my every view, although I do hope that many of them would agree with me when it comes to matters of the Christian faith.
For that reason, I will address some of those 'matters' here.
Christmas - I realise that there are some Christians that don't celebrate Christmas because they believe it has its origins in a pagan celebration. I respect that. I suspect Christmas grew up as a response to festivitites that were already occurring in the world, very similar to the 'Light Parties' that have become popular in response to Halloween. The Apostle Paul says that everyone should be convinced in their own mind by those practices that are not covered by Scriptural commands or principles and if they are convinced that it is wrong and do it, then they have sinned. For me, I do not believe that celebrating Christmas is wrong and do it with a clear conscience. I realise some of my friends reading this may not agree and this is something I think we can lovingly and respectfully disagree on.
However I don't know if I've ever believed that Jesus Christ was born December 25. As a child I was taught that it was the day we celebrated His birthday but was most unlikely to be the actual date. Recent research has led me to believe that He was more likely to have been born in the Northern Spring, possible April. In fact, a source I read suggested that Jesus was born April 1, since there is no valid explanation for 'April Fools Day'. It suggested that when the early Christians celebrated Jesus' birth on April 1 that they were called 'Fools' - hence the name 'April Fools'. Whether this is true or not, is of little importance. To me, I think it's good to remember Jesus' birthday and the reason He came to earth - whatever day that happened to be.
Trinity - Certainly while the word 'Trinity' does not appear in the Bible, we know that there are three person to the Godhead: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit. The writer of the book of John talks about Jesus being present at the creation of the world, and in Genesis we find that God says "Let us make man in our image". Whose image? The image of God - suggesting that God is plural. There are also other examples in the Old Testament that point to there being more than one person in the Godhead. And Jesus Himself said that "I and the Father are One" while at the same time saying that not even the Son knows the time of the Son's appearing at the end times. From reading the New Testament, I believe it's clear that there are Three Persons and that each has a specific nature that differs from the others: God is the Father, Jesus came as God in human form and became the Sacrificial Lamb, and the Spirit indwells us from the moment of conversion.
Soul - The word 'soul' appears both in the Old Testament and the New. Certainly I'm no theologian, and it does appear that in the Old Testament death was the end - although King Saul had a medium bring up Samuel from the dead when he wanted to know how the battle would end. But the New Testament definitely talks about an afterlife. Paul says that absent from the body is present with Christ, and that for him it would be better to die and be with Christ than to live. The book of Revelations also talks about the souls of those that have been killed for Christ waiting for the Lamb of God (Christ) to revenge their death.
I believe this is a valuable doctrine of the Christian faith. If there is no afterlife, then why bother with Christianity here on earth? As Paul said, if we are mistaken, then we are to be pitied of all men on earth. Knowing that this earthly life isn't all that there is, that it is in fact just a temporary home, keeps the difficulties of this life in perspective and enables me to try harder to live a Christ-like life. I have another home - it's in heaven where Jesus said that He was going to prepare me a place. I trust His word.