It seems that a lot of people are trying to take the Christ of of Christmas. For example:
Operation Christmas Child is an organization that provides children in third world countries a shoebox filled with stuff--shoe boxes that anyone can fill and drop them off so they can be delivered. There was a story on the news about people being angry with the organization just because packets were sent home with children at a school and one of the questions was why they love Jesus. I see a problem with this. Why aren't the people mad at Christmas instead of the organization? Operation Christmas Child just promotes the celebration of the birth of Jesus to overseas--to children that understand the love of God better than anyone else, because they aren't distracted by the holiday madness that can so easily overwhelm us all. People are acting as if Christ is an optional part of Christmas, like believing in Santa Clause!
Something else that kind of irks me is that Obama's family is now calling their Christmas tree a holiday tree. America has this idea that religion is an option. If Christianity is an option then there must be several other ways to get into Heaven. If that is so, then then Jesus really isn't all that important. If religion is an option like so many people believe, then Jesus didn't have to die for our sins at all, because after all, there are other ways to gain eternity with God. That is the deadly trap that fools millions of us. When we try to secularize Christmas, we lose the meaning of Christmas. We lose the celebration of Jesus Christ. So why is Christmas so special for all those people who have nothing to celebrate?
This is because love is contagious. I'm talking about raw love. The love that only comes from God. Our Heavenly Father sent down His only son as a sacrifice for our sins, because He loves us! Christmas is about celebrating and recognizing that raw pure love. Even when some people forget that, there are so many people that do remember--and always will recognize that love. Christmas is powerful because God is powerful. Recognizing this is not enough, love isn't for keeping to yourself. Share with the world why Christmas is important--Jesus!
In fact, Jesus was so important that the Magi visited him. The Magi were pretty powerful dudes, they were a part of the Megistanes. The Megistanes had the power and responsibility to choose who were going to be the kings of the Parthian empire. Songs have referred to the Magi as kings because the absolute king was the only thing that had any power over them. Contrary to popular belief there were not just three of these guys, nowhere in the Bible does it say that. Some historians think that the Magi traveled to Jerusalem in a small army. These guys were responsible for defeating the Roman army. Yes, the macho Roman army.
You can imagine Herod's reaction when the Magi came storming in Jerusalem demanding to see a baby king because they want to worship the little guy. These are guys that pick out kings for a living, not the three quiet dudes riding camels silently through the night that you hear about in church. Herod wouldn't even be concerned with losers like that, but these macho Magi were enough to make Herod jump out of his pampered royal skin! These powerful Magi travel all the way to Bethlehem to give expensive gifts, gifts that babies don't need. They gave the gifts because it was a symbol of their power. They were humble enough to state how powerful they were and get down on their hands and knees with their faces to the ground to worship a baby. Based on a hunch. That is the meaning of Christmas. Isn't that a lot cooler than a fat person with a beard trying to get up and down chimneys?
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