Why
do you celebrate Christmas? Is your motivation family and friends?
Perhaps a little time off from work? Are you the generous sort and love
to give gifts....or maybe just the opposite and love to get stuff?
There's nothing wrong with any of these things. Christians point back
to a manger. Atheists point to peace and good will. Many more will be
somewhere in the middle. Which are you friend? Why do you celebrate
Christmas? What do you truly believe?
This
Christmas, I really think God has the blues. Choirs are singing Silent
Night, yet lives remain unchanged by the message of the manger.
Christmas carols by candlelight, but the light of the star is not seen
by people all over the world. Oh, what a Christmas to have the blues.
Let me remind you that the purpose of the Notes is not to proselytize you into my religion. The purpose of the Notes is to share the trivial alongside of the important. We never want to debase the important, but want to highlight it by use of the "interesting" things in popular culture and music. Hopefully, you are entertained as well as enlightened...encouraged as well as engaged.
So
again, The Notes poses this question: Why do you celebrate Christmas?
Your motivations for celebrating really come down to 1 of 2 thought
processes or world views. You either believe that The Bible is God's
Word, sent to restore our broken relationship with Him or you don't. If
you are really honest with yourself, you will find there can be no
middle ground on this particular fact. This is a decision you have to
make at some point. Please come home for Christmas... But let's see
what the world view of the average American is... In a 2011 study by
Gallup, they found that 1/3 of Americans believe that every jot and
tittle of the Bible is true.
The
converse of this would be that 2/3 of Americans do not believe
everything in the Bible is true. Oh what a Christmas to have the
blues...
The Washington Post recently printed an article, complete with some really cool maps, that show religions in the US.
The
fastest growing segment of religion is...no religion at all or what is
being called "nones". So won't you tell me, you'll never more roam...
But this is Christmas, Christmas my dear, the time of year to be with the ones you love...and there is the reason God has the blues. According to the above articles, the ones that God loves don't necessarily want to be with Him.
Regardless
of how you personally relate to the above articles, there is a "thread"
that permeates the Bible that you should know. A thread that could
have an eternal impact on this Christmas and every Christmas from now
on:
God
created everything. This includes men and women. He created them so
He could have a relationship with them. Have you ever had a
relationship that went south? Yep, so has God. The relationship
between God and mankind was destroyed because Adam and Eve rebelled
against God. Now this wasn't like they declared war on Him or anything,
but they disobeyed His guidelines. Have you ever seen a child disobey
their parents, or an employee disobey the operating standards of their
employer? What does that do to the relationship between them? Well,
God created everything perfect and when Adam and Even disobeyed, they
became imperfect. They could no longer be in God's Presence. Everyone
was hurt in the destruction of this relationship. I am just like Adam
and Eve. I am not perfect and my relationship with God needed
restoration as well. But God had a plan from before the time He created
everything. He would send someone to earth to restore the
relationship. That restorer was Jesus. Christmas time for many is a
celebration of Jesus coming to earth as a baby. When He was older,
Jesus told about the restoration of the relationship with God and how it
could be achieved. In fact, He gave his life so this message could be
told all around the world. Because of His sacrifice, our relationship
with God can be just like it was for Adam and Eve in the garden. After
he died by hanging on a cross, Jesus was buried, but there is no one in
His tomb today. You see, Jesus was God in human form. He died as a
human and returned to God. He died so the perfect relationship between
God and man could be restored. He lives now, acting as our defense
attorney to God. And He asks you: please come home for Christmas.
That story permeates every line of every verse in the Bible. So friend, what do you believe? There are many good messages out there to give us reason to celebrate, but the best reason is restoration!!! If you've never read any of the Bible, let me encourage you to start with the book of Luke. You can find it here: Biblegateway.com Luke has the telling of the Christmas story that Linus reads in "A Charlie Brown Christmas". (see Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Christmas Time Is Here") There are 3 other perspectives about Jesus life in close proximity to Luke that you should read next: Matthew, Mark, and John. For the people who believe this story of restoration, Jesus is preparing a place where... there'll be no more sorrow, no grief or pain, and I'll be happy, Christmas once again.
Merry Christmas!!!
You do not want to miss next week's Notes!!!
'Til Tuesday,
Serving HIM by serving you,
Randy
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