Pleasing God, Making Disciples of Jesus Christ

Everyday is to be Christmas Day

LUKE 2:8-14 – And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

Have you heard it yet? If you are an enthusiast, you may even have hummed it a little. It is what Bing Crosby has been telling us for years in his unique voice, “It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Everywhere we go.” The signs are popping up everywhere, worldly signs that is, of what is approaching; Christmas with all the trimmings, trinkets, and nostalgia filling the air, on-line shopping carts, and calendars with activities.

As the secular world ramps up for this way overblown material season and day, there must be a clearly distinct difference for the believer in the real reason for Christmas–Jesus, but it is a difference I want to emphasize that is out of the norm. Yes, our Christmas celebrations are to be like night and day from the world as we emphasize the birth of our Savior and hope of the Gospel found in the Babe born in Bethlehem. But it should go far beyond Christmas Eve Candlelight services and topic sermons on Christ’s birth. If Christians only think with greater attention to Christ’s birth at Christmas, we are missing one of the key disciplines necessary to live the Christian life as God intends. And that is the emphasis I want to make out of the norm for us.

Every day for the Christian is to be Christmas, Good Friday, and Easter. Every day should find us obeying the command Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith” in His birth, death, and resurrection(Hebrews 12:1-2). Why? Such mental and heart discipline is the only way to keep our walks with the Lord spiritually vibrant with spiritual reality of His living Person. What is so easy to do in the Christian life is reduce our Christianity to mere morality, not Biblical spirituality. And the only way to prevent this heart-cooling experience is to remember, and keep remembering the astounding truths written by the Apostles Matthew and John–Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name ‘Immanuel’(Matthew 1:23); And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace(John 1:14-16); and But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you”(Matthew 28:5-7)

So as the sounds and sights of Christmas rush upon us, let’s pause and ask the Lord to make us aware it is Christmas every day, and because of Christmas, Good Friday and Easter Sunday also are to be remembered every day!

PRAYER: “Father, help me never to lose the awe factor of Your Son becoming a Man to save me and walk with me.”
QUOTE: “Think often of the Incarnation of Christ. It will keep your heart aglow with the truth that God is real and alive.”

Because of Him,
Pastor Jim