Christmas - Day 23

Share Greetings of Meaning

Merry Christmas!  What does it mean?  Merry means “pleasant” or “Joyful.”  Christmas comes from an old English word which means the “feast of Christ.” 

A “Feast of Christ” was a worship service where people would take bread and wine and celebrate the Lord’s Supper – the last meal He ate with His disciples before He went to the cross.

Why would we remember the death of Jesus on His birthday?    If Jesus hadn’t been born, He couldn’t have died on the cross to take away our sins.  If He hadn’t died on the cross, He couldn’t have risen from the dead and defeated death.  If He hadn’t risen from the dead (His resurrection), there wouldn’t be any reason to celebrate – anything – ever.

Because He did do these things, we can be pleasant and joyful as we remember His great love and sacrifice for us and we can share with others how they, too, can be pleasant and joyful – because of what Jesus has done for them.  We can encourage them to accept His forgiveness and give their lives to Him.  So – let’s be sure to say “Merry Christmas”!

Blessings.

  

Christmas - Day 22

The Christmas Stocking

Do you have a Christmas Stocking hanging someplace in your home at Christmas time?  Well, there is a story that goes with this tradition, too.

A long time ago there was a hard working man who worked as a shoe cobbler and had three daughters. One day, a stranger came into his shop and the cobbler was telling him about his daughters who all wanted to get married but he didn’t have enough money to pay the ‘bride price’ which was expected in those days. 

Some time later as the cobbler and his daughters were at home one evening, an expensive gold coin came in through an open window!  The cobbler ran outside to see where the coin had come from but he didn’t see anyone around.  This would be enough for the first daughter to get married.  This happened again, and again he ran out to see who had thrown the coin….but found no one.  Now the second daughter could be married.  And then, once again, another coin came in through the window.  This time when the cobbler ran out he saw a man hurrying away and called out to him.  To his surprise, it was the stranger who had come into his shop some time before.  The cobbler was so surprised!  He asked the man why he had given so much to his family when they didn’t even know him and didn’t deserve such expensive gifts.  The man replied that he knew what Jesus had done for him by coming to earth and dying on the cross to pay for his sins.  He said he hadn’t deserved that either.  But because Jesus gave him a very expensive gift that he didn’t deserve, he wanted to follow His example and give expensive gifts to others who didn’t deserve them either.  This is how he showed his love for Jesus. 

This story makes a good point.  One of the greatest things we can do to show our love to Jesus is to love other people – that is an expensive gift that we can give to others…..just as Jesus loved us so much that He was willing to give His very life for us.  Let’s see how much love we can share with others!

Blessings.

Christmas - Day 21

The Wise Men

After Jesus had been born in Bethlehem, some wise men from the East came to Jerusalem saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?   For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him” (Matt. 2: 1b-2). 

Then “they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was.  When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.  And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him.  And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him:  gold, frankincense, and myrrh.”

What a marvelous thing this was!  These wise men saw the star and then followed it.  It stopped right over where Jesus was.  When they got there they were so excited.  Can you imagine?  How would you have felt?  They were able to go into the house where Mary and Joseph and the Child Jesus were and when they saw Him they fell down and worshiped Him.  Oh, my!  How very thrilled they must have been!  Then they gave Him the gifts that they had brought to Him – gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  These were very special and expensive gifts, the kind that you would give to a king.  This was their way of expressing how wonderful Jesus was and showed their desire to honor Him.

We, too, want to honor Jesus, the King of Kings.  We do this whenever we honor Him with our love and obedience.  These are our most important gifts to Him.

Blessings.

Christmas - Day 20

Candles

As you walk or drive by many homes during this Christmas season you will often see candles in the windows.  They always look so warm and inviting to me, I just want to go inside! 

Here is the story behind these candles in the windows:   On Christmas Eve, many Irish families of faith put a single candle in each of their 3 windows to represent Joseph, Mary, and Jesus.  If a traveling priest saw these candles he would know that the doors of that home were unlocked and he could go in, have a meal with that family, and celebrate Christmas with them.  These believers in Jesus knew the scripture that says “Jesus is the Light of the World: (John 8:12).  No matter what happens, the darkness can’t put out the light that Jesus is!  He is the light of salvation to all who will trust in His sacrificial death for lost sinners.  And that means all of us.  “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”.  Jesus is our Savior form the darkness of sin.  Trust in Him and walk in the light of His deliverance.

To illustrate this, some evening take your children into your basement or a closet and turn out all of the lights.  Talk about how very dark it is.  People who don’t know Jesus are living in the dark.    Then, all at once turn on a flashlight or flip the light switch and let it shine brightly.  This light represents Jesus, the Light of the World.   The darkness vanishes in the light.   Jesus also tells us that we are His lights in the world….we can shine brightly when we obey Him and tell others about Him.  Then they can be in the light too.

I hope you have experienced the light of His love during this season of lights.

Blessings.

Christmas - Day 19

The Shepherds

On that one special night, the shepherds were out doing their jobs.  It was a normal evening for them.  There they were, alone in the fields keeping watch over their sheep.  Sometimes, at night, wolves would come and try to hurt the sheep.  The shepherds’ job was to keep them safe and not let anything happen to them and that’s just what they were doing.  But suddenly, something incredible happened!  An angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid.  (would you have been afraid?  I would!).  Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, 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.  And this will be the sign to you; you will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!  Wow!  Now what?  When the angel had gone, what do you think they angels did?  They said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.”  And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger.  When they had seen Him, they told everyone what the angel had told them about this Baby and the people who heard this marveled at what they said. 

Wouldn’t you love to have been one of the shepherd’s?  There are a few things we can learn from them. 

First, they were doing their work just like they were supposed to.  God has given each of us some work to do, and we are to do it cheerfully and diligently.

Next, once the angel told them about the baby Jesus and where to find Him, they went immediately to see Him.  Like the shepherds, we can meet Him by asking Him to forgive our sin and giving our life to Him.

Lastly, again like the shepherds we can go and tell everyone we know what we have learned about Jesus.  Maybe they would like to meet Him too!

Blessings.

Christmas - Day 18

Angels

The Bible tells us that angels wait to do God’s bidding.  They delight in serving and are happy to do whatever He asks them to do.  We see some specific examples of this as it pertains to Christmas.  For example:

An angel by the name of Gabriel appeared to young Mary and told her she was going to have a baby by the Holy Spirit and that He was going to save people from their sins.  She didn’t understand all of this, but she replied, “Behold the handmaiden of the Lord.  May it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:26-38).  She didn’t understand, but she was obedient to God.

A little later this same angel appeared to Joseph, Mary’s fiancé.  He told Joseph that Mary was going to have a baby but that it was by the Holy Spirit.  She had done nothing wrong and he would not need to divorce her (Matthew 1:18-22).  He didn’t understand all of this either, but he, too, was obedient to God.

Then, on the very night that Jesus was born, many, many angels appeared in the sky.  The light shone brightly in the night sky and they sang ‘Glory to God in the Highest and on earth peace, good will toward men, (Luke 2:8-14).

Did you notice that both Mary and Joseph were willing to do whatever God said, even though they didn’t understand?  This is an important lesson for us; sometimes God asks us to do things we don’t understand, but He still wants us to obey.  Because Mary and Joseph obeyed God they were blessed.  God will bless us too, if we obey Him.

Blessings.

Christmas - Day 17

It’s Better to Give than to Receive

We have already talked about gifts, but this time I’d like to suggest something a bit different.  During these difficult economic times, many people are finding it very stressful and can hardly imagine how they will even have enough money to provide a good Christmas dinner.  We can help! 

You can either do this as a family, or you could ask some friends to join with you on this endeavor.  Set aside an afternoon or an evening and go shopping for Christmas dinner items.  You might also like to spend some time making fudge, baking cookies or making some other special things that you enjoy  

When you have everything together, place the items in a basket or bag (maybe adding a nice red bow!), put it in your car and wait until dark.   Drive to the family’s home but be careful not to be seen!  When no one is around, let the children take the basket/bag quietly up to the door, place it on the porch, ring the doorbell and….RUN!  Hide behind a tree or run to the car and drive off.  The family will find your gift….but not know where it came from.  What a blessing!  This has the added benefit of teaching your children about giving without expecting anything in return.  The people you have blessed can’t even thank you because they don’t know whom the gift is from.  It is better to give than to receive!  Enjoy.

Blessings.