I thought I would tell you why I like
Christmas in general, even though there is nothing Scripture that tells
us to set the day aside as a holiday. In other words, the day itself is
purely an invention of men, and has very little to do about Christ and
His incarnation.
Given that, here are the reasons I love Christmas:
- It gives us a chance to ponder the incarnation of Christ and what that means. This truly is a wonderful event because the Second Person of the Trinity became flesh and dwelt among us. Since this is true, then we must ask “why?” Christ becoming flesh is the best demonstration of God’s love, for He laid aside His glory, in order to redeem His people. In fact, the name Jesus means just that: He will save His people.
- I love Christmas trees, lights and decorations. OK, this is hardly theological. But I can’t help it. I love the lights and decorations that go along with Christmas.
- I love the food that accompanies Christmas. Everyone knows that the food and sweets are much better around Christmas time because this leads to everyone’s favorite New Year’s resolution: eat less, exercise more, and lose weight, or some variation of that.
- I love the great hymns that have been written about Christmas, especially O Holy Night! That is my favorite hymn and why I’ve included it in this post. This one is performed by Josh Groban:
- I love getting surprise gifts. Yes, I know that I said I would prefer a haircut, but I still love receiving gifts from my loved ones, knowing that they were willing to go through the trouble that buying gifts is for me. Elisa always puts a great deal of thought into my gift and I appreciate that about her.
- I love preaching sermons about the coming of Christ because it opens the door to grabbing a hold of both covenants, the old and the new, and showing how the two come together in Christ. You can listen to some of my sermons here.
- I love the battles that surround Christmas about the displays being put up on the courthouse lawn, and seeing the thousands of Christians standing up for the right to say “Merry Christmas.”
- The flip side of this is seeing all the atheists get flummoxed as they try and silence us from exercising our beliefs and rights. No one is forcing atheists to participate in our beliefs. They do not have to participate in the day. In fact, since they are so set against celebrating Christmas and all that it represents, let them show up for work on those days and not take the day off.
- I love watching Joey and Andy in all the events. They get so excited over the simplest things and I love seeing them do so. They love the tree that my wife decorated in our living room, and the thought of Christmas gifts that will come to them next Sunday. I love driving around in the car after sunset and looking at all the lights with them.They are really one of the reasons the season is so much fun now. Children help lower the Bah-humbug factor!
- Finally, I love that so many are talking about the most historic moment in history when they say Merry Christmas. They may not realize it, but they are. Even this, bring Him glory.
