It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas… but not in Florida if your picture perfect Christmas involves cold temperatures and snow. But snow may not be your thing (it isn’t mind for sure). Maybe gifts and trees are.
Department stores were looking a lot like Christmas way before Thanksgiving (kind of depressing). Thanksgiving used to mark the coming of Santa Clause but nowadays profit is the name of the game. And prices can be so jacked up for items that shopping for gifts can become a downer rather than an absolute joy.
Lot’s of people will just use credit but, if I may steal a quote from the robot of an old televisions show called Lost In Space, “Danger, Danger.” Buying on credit is good if you can pay the card off right away otherwise you will feel the bite in the you know where come next month when the bills hit your mailbox.
But maybe you’re good at buying and giving and staying on budget. Maybe Christmas to you looks like baking lots of goodies.
We just baked this Monkey bread recently (above pic). Monkey bread is no monkey business! The house smelled the way I hope heaven smells one day and the melted butter with cinnamon sugar was worth licking off my fingers. Tonight, I hope, my wife is going to be baking some amazing white Christmas cookies. Those, like most others, will definitely put a hurting on my waistline.
For some people Christmas is about making their house look like a giant neon sign outside or about parties and fun times indoors. Below, check out the ugly sweater one of my daughters made for a recent office party,
No doubt that however Christmas looks like to you is the way Christmas will be. And all the above stuff I mentioned is fun (except the one about credit card bills coming in January). But a couple of scenes play out in my mind that paint a little bit of a different portrait of Christmas.
Probably the most memorized verse in all the Bible is this,
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16 NIV)
So God gave His Son to us even when we didn’t yet know Him! (Please read that again and let it sink deep into your brain) God’s love is really amazing!
On Thanksgiving Day, we were stopped at a red light in Orlando, Florida, on our way to a family gathering. There was no one else around other than some guy holding up a sign on the corner. My darling quickly looked in her purse, pulled out some cash, and I called the man over. He was so elated by our gift. And with a smile that seemed to go from ear to ear he said, “Thank you, you just don’t know how you much this means to me.”
Christmas looks like giving to those who can’t pay you back.
Christmas also looks like a celebration of life…eternal life!
I think the apostle John was telling us that missing hell and making heaven one day is cause for joy. So, from God’s people gathering for worship to a small group (or family) at a house bowing to thank the Lord for His goodness, is what Christmas looks like.
Yes, by all means, let’s deck out the place with lights, and put up and decorate a Fraser Fir (or a plastic fake one), and bake a storm of goodness, and buy gifts, and get silly, but by all means, let’s go out of our way to show love towards others and let’s worship the King this Christmas!
You are Awesome Pastor Jorge.. We love you here in Indiana at 27 decrees ! We wish you and Doreen and girls a very Blessed Merry Christmas! We always miss you! Love, Hugs and Prayers.
Georgia and Jerry Riggins
We love you too!
It truly is a sobering thought…..in this magnanimous universe that God created, we are so insignificant, and yet God knows us even before we are born! And He LOVES us! When He saw His creation in trouble because of sin, He didn’t hesitate. He sent His Son to pay the ultimate price for our sins (death on a cross) so that forgiveness and reconciliation would be possible.
At this time of year, it is so easy to get caught up in all the decorations and shopping, that we can lose focus as to why this time of year is so very special. It’s so special because we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ! Jesus, our Savior, our Redeemer, the One who snatched us out of Satan’s grasp and freed us from the bondage of sin!
Just as you say, Jorge, let’s worship the King! JESUS is the reason for the season!
Amen to that!