There are many Christmas presents we desire, but salvation is not one of them.
Have you noticed that under certain circumstances it is acceptable and even necessary to be a Christian? Many people may not go to church throughout the year, but on Christmas Day (and at Easter), we feel compelled to do so. We might not have been to church in five years, but when we want to get married, we find it necessary to do so in a church. We may not have been going to church, but now that we have a baby, we need a pastor to officiate at the naming ceremony and baptise the baby.
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The church has become a business like a party rental company. When we have just bought a car, built a house, or started a business, it is time to look for a Pastor to bless it. When we have a naming ceremony, wedding, or burial, it is time to rent a church to conduct the proceedings. But only just for the occasion.
Christmas is no longer about the birth of Christ. Jesus warns that the thief has come to steal, kill, and destroy (Jn 10:10). Make no mistake about it, he has already stolen Christmas. I heard in the news recently that many schools in the United States have decided to cancel the nativity play at Christmas time because they consider it to be politically incorrect since there are no African Americans and Latinos represented in it. I dare say there are no homosexuals either, and we don’t want anybody to feel left out. Soon, we will fabricate new, improved versions of the birth of Christ.
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Counterfeit Christmas
Many of the things now associated with Christmas have nothing to do with Christ or with Christianity. Indeed, there is no mention of the celebration of Christmas in the book of Acts. The Christmas tree is a remnant of old Teutonic nature worship. Santa Claus or Father Christmas is more occultist than scriptural. He is more in keeping with the witches and wizards of the books of JK Rowling than with the word of God. The God of the bible is definitely not Father Christmas.
Christmas is now about giving and receiving presents, getting a new set of clothes, shooting bangers and fireworks, sitting down to a sumptuous meal, and making a big impression back home in the village. It means if we don’t have any money, it is a time of gloom and sadness. At Christmas, we are now forced to take stock of our financial situation and determine our life by the abundance of what we possess. If we are short of cash, it is a dry season that brings no tidings of comfort and joy, and we complain that “the Grinch” has stolen our Christmas.
The giving of presents is a Roman, and not a Christian, practice. There is no mention of it in the book of Acts. The Christmas tree is a remnant of old Teutonic nature worship. Santa Claus or Father Christmas is more occultist than scriptural. It is more in keeping with the witches and wizards of the books of JK Rowling than it is with the word of God. At its most basic level, Father Christmas is a lie, but God is the truth. The God of the bible can hardly be described as anything like Father Christmas.
The First Christmas
But, in the beginning, it was not so. In the beginning, Christmas was celebrated in a manger, and not in a palace. The sign the angels gave for identifying the Messiah was not silks and satins, but swaddling clothes. Mary and Joseph were so poor that they could not even afford a lamb for the sacrifice on behalf of their new child, according to the Law of Moses. Therefore, they had to make do with turtledoves and pigeons (Lev 12:8; Lk 2:24).
At the first Christmas, the shepherds brought no gifts. There is actually no biblical record of the three kings of the Orient. The bible does not say there were only three wise men; neither does it say they were kings. When they came, they did not come at Christmas. They came some two years after the new child was born (Mt 2:16). By then, Jesus was a young child and no longer a baby (Mt 2:11). Neither did they come bearing gifts for Mary and Joseph; they only brought gifts for Jesus.
The message of the birth of Christ was first brought to lowly shepherds, sleeping outdoors. “The angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.’” (Lk 2:10-11). However, Christmas is no longer good news for all people. It is now essentially good news for the rich.
How would we react today to the news that a saviour has been born? We would first need to know what kind of saviour he would be. Would he save us from poverty and corruption? Would he save us from PHCN, unemployment, bad roads, inadequate medical facilities, poor schools, bad housing, Tinubu, the goons of the APC, and the parasites of the National Assembly?
But once we discover that Jesus of Nazareth is the Saviour, we are sure to lose interest.
The Rejected Saviour
Some people were robbing a bank in the dead of the night. A man walked in on them and switched on the light. Then he said: “I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life” (Jn 8:12). What do you think the robbers did to him? They shot him dead.
Is Jesus the kind of Saviour we want? Definitely not! The Messiah has come, but he only has one assignment: to save from sin. The angel appeared to Joseph to clarify matters concerning Mary’s mysterious pregnancy: “She will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins” (Mt 1:21).
However, while sin is God’s preoccupation, it is man’s occupation. The principal thing God heals is sin. But sin is the last thing we want to be healed. Man is a lover of sin, which makes us averse to Christ and His salvation.
There are many Christmas presents we desire, but salvation is not one of them. We want houses, cars, and land. We want cell phones, smartphones, and iPhones, but we don’t want salvation.
God is not unrighteous: he will not give us what we do not want. He will only give salvation to those who desire it and yearn for it. He will only give salvation to those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. (Mt 5:6).
[email protected]; www.femiaribisala.com
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