In a few short days the entire world will be celebrating Christmas. As I look around there is so much commercialization and consumerism. In fact it is not about children s we used to say but it is all about businesspersons who act as vultures in plundering the pockets of the unsuspecting. We spend so much time getting ourselves into debt by changing furniture or repainting the house and not forgetting the amount of money that is spend in the supermarkets trying to stock up so that we could treat the family and friends who will drop by. Yet amidst all this hype Christ is left on the backburner except when we say ‘Merry Christmas’. So what then is the real essence of Christmas? As Christians we rejoice that Christ came more than 2000 years ago, but this one thing I wish to remind us; your and my Saviour is no longer a babe in a manger. As a result, He is not interested in our Christmas trees or distributions of toys and gifts to thousands of children or any other gesture that we use to indicate that we are celebrating His birth. In fact at no time did He enjoin us to celebrate His birth. One thing He has asked us to do is celebrate His death according to 1 Corinthians 11:26 “For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again”. But even as you celebrate remember the purpose for which He came, to ‘seek and to save us who were lost’. Why not spend some time meditating on His Word in Isaiah 53? This is what He said “1Who has believed our message? To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm? 2My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot, like a root in dry ground. There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him. 3He was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. 4Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! 5But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. 6All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all. 7He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth. 8Unjustly condemned, he was led away. No one cared that he died without descendants, that his life was cut short in midstream. But he was struck down for the rebellion of my people. 9He had done no wrong and had never deceived anyone. But he was buried like a criminal; he was put in a rich man’s grave. 10But it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him and cause him grief. Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, he will have many descendants. He will enjoy a long life, and the Lord’s good plan will prosper in his hands. 11When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied. And because of his experience, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins. 12I will give him the honors of a victorious soldier, because he exposed himself to death. He was counted among the rebels. He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels”. Friends; this is the essence of Christmas: our Saviour wants to be our Lord. Are you willing to believe His report? I am.
Posted on: Sun, 21 Dec 2014 13:47:31 +0000
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