MERRY CHRISTMAS!

  

Christmas can be a frustrating time of year for many Christians. We know it’s our time of the year to celebrate the birth of Christ and yet it has become so commercialized that sometimes a feeling of guilt gets in the way of celebrating. We struggle with how to celebrate the birth of our Savior and not let the commercial aspects of Christmas cheapen the celebration. If that describes the way you feel, please know that you are not alone.

Yes, Christmas is our time of the year but one almost feels that the Christmas of today was dreamed up in a smoke-filled room deep inside a sleazy Hollywood advertising agency for the benefit of “retail establishments and the economy.” Several years ago there was a very strong push by liberals and atheists to change the name of Christmas to Holiday Day. Some cities no longer have Christmas trees in the city square, or nativity scenes; instead, they have holiday trees and Frosty the snowman.

Christmas will always be Christmas for me, not Xmas, not Holiday Day. It will always be Christ’s birthday and if that is offensive to anyone, I really don’t care! The very fact that you feel the slightest discomfort with the commercialized and secularized aspects of Christmas means you are on the right track.

We love to give gifts, in moderation, in our family every year. But we have also chosen to keep Christ as the focus of Christmas and to give gifts and do things for people less fortunate than we are. One year, when our daughters were younger and we were living in Los Angeles, we spent Christmas Eve at the Fred Jordan Mission on skid row in downtown Los Angeles. Several of our friends and their families also went and together we spent the evening out in the streets with the homeless, giving out blankets (it was cold in L.A. that Christmas) and hot food. It was a memorable evening for all of us from the suburbs as we got to share with people and distribute gifts, food and a brief witness for Christ. My wife and I still remember it and so do our children. Every year we give to others we have never met and probably never will; we try to “send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared!” (Nehemiah 8:10). There are several fine ministries that you can have confidence in and give through them to the needy around the world. World Vision, Compassion, Samaritan’s Purse, and Somebody Cares America are just a few. It’s not too late to get a gift in the mail before the end of the year.

The apostle Paul never seemed to be at a loss for words about anything. By far the most prolific of the New Testament writers, he was well educated and had a wonderful freedom with words. He seemed to enjoy being able to describe the great doctrines of the faith in writing.

One of the absolute gems of Paul’s writings almost seems to be an afterthought, as if it’s in the wrong place. In 2 Corinthians 9, Paul spends the first 14 verses commending the Corinthians and encouraging and teaching them about giving. Then comes verse 15 and Paul drops this absolute diamond into the teaching: “Thanks be to God for His inexpressible gift!”

Paul, of course, is describing the Father’s gift of love in sending His Son to

earth. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

The Apostle goes on to say that the magnitude of the gift is not just breathtaking in scope but it leaves him speechless, incapable of adequately describing the meaning of “the gift.” The original word here translated inexpressible means that mere words fail him; it is indescribable, a gift that is beyond description.

Two thousand years later the meaning of “the gift” is still being revealed in hundreds of millions of lives worldwide. It was as though by the eye of faith Paul saw that “the gift” would bring the touch of grace upon millions and millions of people over several thousands of years and the sheer magnitude and beauty of what would happen left him speechless with gratitude. And then there was the understanding that “the gift” would be freely available to all who would receive it, and that makes it “priceless” and far beyond the capacity of human conversation to describe it.

Recipients of “the gift,” we wish you a Merry Christmas!