No It's Christmas

 It’s getting closer and closer to Christmas; yes I said it, Christmas not happy holidays but MERRY CHRISTMAS! It’s the time of year we celebrate the birth of Christ. You know the baby born in Bethlehem some 2000 years ago that the world has never gotten over. I love this time of year for many reasons, one is that my Dad made a big deal out of Christmas and I don’t ever remember him saying “Happy Holidays.”  No it was Christmas to him and I have fond memories of the Christmas’s gone by. Another reason is the reason for the season; yes, Christ the Savior of the World who would come and give to us the greatest gift anyone could ever give eternal life. The birth of Jesus Christ is one of the most significant events in human history. Stop and think with me for a moment the night Jesus was born, it was like almost any other night except for the crowd that had come to pay their taxes. There were many people that night in Bethlehem that normally would not have been there. There were no rooms in the local Inn; the no vacancy sign had been placed for all too see long ago. Somehow Mary and Joseph found a manger to stay in for the night; so what’s a “manger?” Webster says it is   A trough or box in which fodder is laid for cattle, or the place in which horses and cattle are fed. That box in which live stock are fed from, may or may not have had shelter; don’t know but that really doesn’t matter for God could chosen any place to be born and He chose a manger. Then after His birth the first to be told were not those in the Palace but some shepherds keeping watch over their sheep; have you ever asked yourself why?  These were men of social outcast and the Lord made it known unto them what was going on in Bethlehem.  The moment Jesus stepped into the realm of humanity He began reaching out to those who felt they had no place of real importance. The problem is the more important we think we are the harder we are to reach. The more money we have the harder we are to reach. So God doesn’t waste valuable time and heads straight to those shepherds who would receive Him. How would you have acted that night if those shepherds had come to you and told you what they had seen?

Luke 2:17 And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.

Luke 2:18 And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. They did what? “Wondered” why didn’t they go see for themselves? Life hasn’t changed much from then. People are told all the time about Jesus the Savior and that they can have eternal life and what do they do? They Wonder! That’s not the way the shepherds re-acted.

Luke 2:20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.  Those shepherds got excited so much so that they Glorified God; Webster says this about GLO'RIFYING-   Praising; honoring in worship; exalting to glory; honoring. Can you see those shepherds waving their hands maybe jumping up and down lifting up their voices? Why were they not wondering? We are told in the same verse “for all the things that they had HEARD and SEEN, as it was TOLD unto them.” That is the reason people don’t get excited today because they are wondering about what they have been told. There are also those; like me, who believe what was told them and has seen for themselves.   Therefore we glorify and praise God and yes we get excited about this time of year, CHRISTMAS. Take Christ out of it and all you have is MAS whatever that is and if that’s all we have I guess Happy Holidays will work fine.  I’m all about Christ so therefore I can say Christmas and at the same time praise God and thank Him for His goodness to me. Don’t you just love this time of year? CHRISTMAS!