CHRISTMAS

The CHRISTmas Christian

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or, The failure of CHRISTmas.

It’s Christmastime…that time of year! Or to me, a time to witness people trample over Christ to cheap adornments, cheap gifts and perceived traditions that keep Christ OUT of Christmas. Everyone loves a holiday, loves to say ‘Christmas’ but have no intentions of including Christ.

Christmas is a time when Christians celebrate the birth of the Savior; whether it was His actual birthday is not important…we don’t mind having Presidents Day or Martin Luther King Day off from work when that day does not reflect their actual birthdays.

In Redmond and Seattle, Washington, “It’s OK to say Merry Christmas” signs were called ‘not sensitive‘ and ‘alienates other religions‘. I’m pretty darned sure that ‘other religions‘ don’t have anything to do with Christmas anyway. But as usual, people want the holiday, but not Christ.

Without Christ, there would be no Christmas. I can’t make that any simpler. If you don’t want Christ in Christmas, then go to work on December 25th…..and a ‘Happy Holidays’ to ya.

In true Christianity, the Bible teaches us to discern and teach against false doctrine. We are to be a ‘watchman on the wall‘, not passive. Passivity causes slumber, slumber causes CULT. Then, if you are a Christian and don’t care about what CHRISTmas is, then  you are in slumber.

There is no middle road, no gray area…either Christmas is about Jesus Christ or it’s about YOU.

The Christian Sojourner

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We, all Christians, are all sojourners here. This world is not our home; it is as temporary as our human flesh is. But we still have to live here and fellowship here until that time when we can finally go Home.

God made a way for the Christian Sojourner:

“If one of your brethren becomes poor, and falls into poverty among you, then you shall help him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you. Take no usury or interest from him; but fear your God, that your brother may live with you. You shall not lend him your money for usury, nor lend him your food at a profit. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.” Leviticus 25:35-38

As a sojourner while still on this Earth, we seek the Father continually. We see Him through the eyes of a child, the infirm, the meek, the poor…and through a godly stranger. God is everywhere, He is in everything, even in the darkest of times:

“Hear my prayer, O Lord,
And give ear to my cry;
Do not be silent at my tears;
For I am a stranger with You,
A sojourner, as all my fathers were.” Psalm 39:12

The Christian Sojourner sometimes is cast out from whom he trusted to fend for himself outside of the ‘city gate‘. For our Faith we are chastised and criticized and censured. The Christian Sojourner continues in the Faith, not luck! We are a wayfaring stranger, a rank stranger with chaotic worldly lusts all around. But we stand, we stand FAST, we stand in HIM, no matter the cost, and sometimes that cost is our own home, family and friends:

“If we had forgotten the name of our God,
Or stretched out our hands to a foreign god,
Would not God search this out?
For He knows the secrets of the heart.
Yet for Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Psalm 44:20-22. 

Who will help the Sojourner? Even Job said, “But no sojourner had to lodge in the street, for I have opened my doors to the traveler.” Job’s door was open, are ours? Until it’s time to go over that River, we are wayfaring, sojourning….travelling through and hopefully the love of a neighbor will let us lay our head down for a little while. Jesus said: “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” Yes, even Jesus.

Sometimes the Christian Sojourner has to move on relying on the mercy and love of other Christians. But with every step the River gets closer and the blessings are sure – this journey is shorter than you think.

Mary Believed.

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Unimaginable. To think that a young girl, barely marriageable, was chosen to be the vessel God would use for the birth our Savior, Jesus Christ. And even more unimaginable is her Faith in whom she heard this Good News!

“Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.” Luke 1:45

The New Testament reflects what the Prophet Isaiah said regarding the birth of The Redeemer:

So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet [Is 7:14], saying: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.” Matthew 1:22-23

Why was Mary so special to God for Him to choose her? It has to be assumed that Mary’s heart to some degree, while yet a sinner by nature through the fall of Adam, had a level of receptive purity toward God. This would fulfill the sovereign Plan of God.

MYLIFEASACHRISTIAN

While Mary’s lineage went back to King David, the Bible doesn’t say who her parents were. However, the Scriptures do tell us her husband’s lineage [Luke 3:23, Matthew 1:16], both Mary and Joseph being descendants of David [Romans 1:3]. They seemed ‘common’, but they were chosen.

Though Mary was chosen by God, she still needed to answer the Call. Mary believed, through Faith alone, that her sacrifice would change the world.

Unimaginable…but Mary believed.