When we have Christmas what do you think about? The food? The presents? The family? The snow? The Christmas tree? The children? The meals out? The money spent? If someone was to say to you what do you think about when I say Christmas and then say Easter what would your answer be? We often don’t put these two things in the same box and think about them in the same way but in reality they tie together like nothing else, more than Ross and Rachel on Friends, more than Morecombe and Wise, more than the two Ronnies, more than strawberries and cream. These two events that we celebrate in a year are much closer that we have ever thought. Not only are they the most celebrated events around the world but they tie in together.
At this time of year we think about Jesus coming as a baby in a crib born in a stable to a virgin, He had a carpenter for a father and just a young child for a mother really, He grew up in one of the poor parts of the country and didn’t have many friends, He knew God better than anyone else, He performed miracles and raised the dead, He was the saviour that had been talked about millions of years ago and so little people knew it! So little people knew that this was the man who had been talked about, the man who 30+ years down the line would come to do what it had been said in the old books.
Why do I say all of this? Isn’t it Christmas and shouldn’t we be celebrating the life that was born in a stable to very young parents and newlyweds? Christmas is all about Christs coming, it is all about celebrating a new born like no other. All babies that come into this world are little miracles, they are precious to their parents and their families but this baby born was different from any other baby that had been born or would be born. He was born in a stable, nowadays most are born in hospital or at home, He was the One so many people had been waiting for-He was the gift that the people needed but didn’t know it. We will all get gifts at some point over the next month and some may all be on one day but others may be spread out. We all will receive gifts and there will be things that you didn’t know you needed but are grateful for them-Jesus is like that gift but so so much better.
Jesus is the gift that everyone needs but are not yet willing to accept it. Some of us may get really expensive presents this year and be thrilled with them but we should be more happy about the baby that was born, we should be more happy that Jesus came for us, we should be more happy that Jesus can be received by everyone. Over the next few weeks there will be loads of gifts exchanged, loads of people thrilled with the things they have but there will be one thing missing and that is the gift of Jesus. Not only today but yesterday and tomorrow you can accept this gift. This gift of Jesus’ life does not have to be held of but instead you can accept it now. Believe me there is no better gift than to know Jesus as your personal Lord. If we didn’t have Christmas we would not have Easter and if we did not have Easter then we would not have eternal life and if we do not have eternal life then we are subject to an eternity away from God, His people and burning.
Do you want this? Do you want to be away from God? Do you want to be punished for the rest of your life? This Christmas time don’t think about the earthly gifts that you have got, don’t think about the family that you can’t wait to see but instead think about the one gift that is able to change your life, think about the one gift that is totally free, think about the one gift that you are able to pass on to other people with no cost to you, think about why we have this time of year and what it really means to you. Christmas is a time when we are able to think about Jesus and the cute baby that He once was but He was and still is the king, He is the One that can be the greatest gift today. He can be the one that you call on when things are tough, He can be your best friend, He can be the one that we turn too when we are stick, He can be the one that we praise when things are going well, He can be the one that will stick by our side through anything and everything.
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