Christmas
Even with all the difficulties we are having these days how can you be a cynic at Christmas time? How can you be a kill joy or grinch? It doesn’t get any better than this in this world. Families getting together, children fidgeting with wide-eyed expectancy, churches filled for candle-lit services. The music, the color, the well wishes and hugs. It doesn’t get any better. Christmas celebrates a humble couple awaiting the birth of their first son who had to be born in a stable because there was no room for them in an inn. Those were tough times, too. But overhead angels sang glory to God in the highest. This is faith at its most basic. This is hope at its most triumphant.
Part of the romance of Christmas is that Christ was not born in Caesar’s household or to royalty. He wasn’t even born in the holy city of Jerusalem. He was born in the little backwater town of Bethlehem. He was not born into an elite family but to a poor couple who had to make a long laborious journey to pay their taxes. His crib was a rough trough from which cattle fed. Millions of poor and weary people around the world find hope for their lives from the story of Christ’s birth. It would not be the same if he had been born in a palace. God’s own Son lying in a rough manger. How it inspires the imagination and tugs at the heart.
This is not a time for pretentiousness. It is not a time to congratulate ourselves on how successful we have become or how many beautiful presents we will give or receive. This is a time to bow in humility before the cradle of one who gave up everything on our behalf. It is a time for receiving His peace and love. Christ emptied himself completely when He came into our world. Some of us are suffering these days. He suffered. Know that as you bow before the King of kings and Lord of lords lying in a lowly manger. Here is our security. Here is our peace, our hope and our joy. God has come into our world in the babe of Bethlehem. Why shouldn’t we sing for joy? The Christ child makes it possible for us to know and live with God. It doesn’t get any better than that. Joy to the World. The Lord has come!
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