Christmas – What Day is it Really?

Could you imagine if someone gave you a gift, you took it, placed it in a “safe” place, but then forgot about it? Then, decades later, after you had passed this life, someone finds that gift, still wrapped and unopened while going through your estate. “What a waste,” they would think!

I can remember listening to debates about when Christmas day really happened throughout my life. I always thought they were silly and a waste of time; this year has changed that. I believe it is imperative for everyone to understand when Christmas happens…from God the Father’s perspective!

The Father did not send the Son to give Him a trip to the planet earth; They created it! Jesus came to this world to offer all an opportunity to experience a real and living relationship with the God of the universe. Not because He needs the company or craves creatures to worship Him. God needs nothing and is not so petty to crave praise as we humans do. His motive was solely one of selflessness. He created human beings to share what only He could share – eternal and abundant life with a creation who could choose or reject that offer. 

That is one of the essentials of true Love, free choice. God did all the work, sacrificed Himself to pay the debt of sin that humanity chose instead of Him. After living with sin and experiencing its devastation, some of His creation might choose to return to Him. He offered it free to us, very costly for Him!

Christmas happens when fallen human beings experience the reality of what it was for. Otherwise, it is nothing more than a day on the calendar…until the day we stand before our God in our unforgiven state and realize we never opened the gift…What a Waste!

Jesus Christ desires to share life, Eternal Life, with anyone that desires it. You can’t earn it; you can’t buy it; you can only receive it! Come as you are, warts and all, there is nothing you have done, said, or thought that would surprise Him. He is omnipotent! 

There is only one person beyond His forgiveness, one that refuses to accept it! 

Take a moment right now, consider, where will you be 1 billion years from now? You can choose to be with your Creator; it is up to you. You can settle this once and for all, right now. God is open to you accepting His invitation. Don’t let your thoughts deceive you. He knows every failure and sin you have stumbled or ran into! You don’t have next year to decide; we cannot guarantee another minute, much less a year.

What question or issue is more important than, “if I exist forever, where will that be?”  

If you choose to believe Christ came, offered His life for you, and are willing to trust in what He did, you can experience the real meaning of Christmas right now. God loves you and is delighted to offer you life with Him. So tell Jesus you trust in what He did for you and thank Him for making you a child of God! Then you will know when Christmas took place! 

Being a savior or a traitor…which one do you choose?

Probing Proverbs 14:25 A truthful witness saves lives, but a false witness is a traitor. 

What is presented here is much deeper than on the surface. Most times, when we ponder the idea of lying, we see it as an overt and deliberate act. 

We need to climb up on the top of this mountain we call “Truth” and see it is very complicated, deep, and requires an honest look in the mirror of our soul. 

When our “lie” is a deliberate act, we know it! However, if we desire to be as described here as a witness that “saves” lives, it is essential that we realize what Jeremiah states concerning the condition of the human heart:

Jer. 17:9 “The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?

Knowing this should arm us to be vigilant in seeking the Truth in ourselves. 

Understanding the power of our life and words should not make us frightened; on the contrary, it should excite us that God Himself has allowed anyone that desires to seek Truth to experience the gift of “saving” someone! 

The “saving” is not speaking only about an eternal Salvation, though that is the most exciting and exhilarating experience! When we share the Truth of God’s love and offer of forgiveness and witness a fallen human, like ourselves, realize this Truth and step over the line of death to life!

Still, this “saving” may be helping someone cope with a complex reality, comforting someone in grief, or challenging someone in love concerning how they are living.

If we are open to it, the Holy Spirit can open our eyes to when we become a “false witness,” which can happen for a myriad of reasons. Personal agendas, fear of exposer, embarrassment, or even “sloppy” speak. 

Consider the “Good News”. How much damage has been done because we betray the whole truth and focus only on one aspect? Some believe God is a monster that loves tossing humans in hell, while others think that God will send all to heaven because He is love. 

God desires all to live with Him in heaven, yet has extended that choice to us, which is the proof of genuine love. To share only one side of Truth does make us a “traitor” in this sense, Truth is essential to real life in every way, and if we deliberately hide any of it or allow ourselves to be manipulated in any form, including laziness in our own understanding of it, we betray the individuals God brought into our lives to share His love and Truth with.

I have found that transparency is the best way to be as honest as possible. When we drop the protective walls that we all have, when we choose to use even our failures as a way to help others, God takes that witness and uses it to deliver (save) others. Deliver them from lack of faith or falling into the same sin we struggled with. Deliver them from the loss of hope when they see that we are just like them, yet because we embraced God’s Truth, He has lifted us up and placed into our heart His Hope which no sin or demon can stop!

Also, the other key is to move to the reality that all God does for us is not only for us! He does these things because that is Who He is, He loves to share Himself with His creation! He also desires and plans for us to take what He has accomplished in us and take that Hope and living water to souls that are dying of thirst, trying to take away their thirst through their own strength.

The So What: Are you committed to Truth? Will you allow the Holy Spirit to express that Truth through you, no matter the cost? Do you desire to experience “saving” someone in trouble? Let God use you!