I love the Christmas season, don’t you? But there is one aspect of the season that concerns me; and that is those born-again believers who say they love God, but yet they take God’s money (their tithes and offerings) and purchase some, if not all, their Christmas gifts.
Did you know that many years ago the Puritans thought that people were ruining Christmas with all their pagan rituals. They especially objected to the fact that the holiday usually came on a weekday, therefore distracting people, they thought, from the Lord's Day of Sunday. But they did more than annually complain about it as we do. They took action and got rid of Christmas altogether. In Puritan settlements across 17th century America, a law was passed outlawing the celebration of Christmas. The marketplace was ordered to stay open for business as though it were no special occasion and all violators were prosecuted. It was against the law to make plum pudding on December 25th. The celebration was not referred to as Yuletide but as “fooltide.”
So we want to reform Christmas and clean it up, do we? Well, is this how far we want to go? Do we really want to be rid of it altogether? Then will Christmas, as the Puritans thought, be saved from us and our sinful ways? So what if we spend $40 billion annually on presents? Can you think of a better way of spending all that money than on gifts of love? And most of them are just that. And so what if all the lights and tinsel do create a fairy tale setting that soon disappears with the so-called Christmas spirit? At least it lets us know, if only for a brief time, what life can be like if we only focus on Christ and others.
Let the message ring out, not that we are destroying this special day, but rather, that we can never destroy this day. “Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour who is Christ the Lord.”
So to each of you...Merry Christmas! And don’t forget it’s all God’s money anyway, use it wisely.
Thought: Christ was content with a stable when He was born so we could have a mansion when we die.
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