I wonder | SermonIndex

The spirit of Christmas, those words have been said so much over the last few weeks that I have lost count. I have also heard much about the magic of Christmas... The magic and spirit of Christmas? I find my self wonder what these words really mean?

The underlining theme that one hears at this time of you is to have the perfect Christmas. The key to having the perfect Christmas, is to believe. It is said if you can just believe in the spirit and magic of Christmas everything will be perfect, everything will work out exactly as you always dreamed it would. All your dreams and wishes will come true.

There is talk of peace on earth, good will to all men and joy, but there is precious little evidence of it. The greater theme of Christmas seems to be, spend Spend SPEND! In fact the push to sell Christmas comes on earlier every year. I realize such importance is placed on giving the perfect gift that most seem stressed out and overwhelmed.Â Â I keep hearing everything has to be wonderful, magical, perfect, and I can't help but wonder, what has to be perfect? What is it about this one day that ties so many up into knots. Why does this one day come with so much expectation?

I realize for some this time of year must be perfect so they can capture that magic, so they can try to understand the meaning of the spirit of Christmas, so they can grasp hold of a feeling, but feelings are fleeting. Once the day has passed for many who have attempted to fillÂ Â the void in their hearts with something, with anything other then JESUS the emptiness returns twofold. The day does not live to their expectation, there is nothing real in the magic they have worked so hard to capture and sadly all that remains is a lingering sense of disappointment as they rush out to the stores to return that less then perfect gift they were given.

I find myself wonder most of all at this time of year that JESUSÂ never told us to celebrate HIS birth, HE never gave us instructions to trim trees, to decorate halls, or to seek after the spirit of Christmas... Yet we do these things every year ritualistically without fail. Why is it then that we struggle so very much with obeying the things HE does command us...”‹things like "take up your cross and follow me," "if you love me you will obey me," "do not let your hearts be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin," and "seek you first the KINGDOM of GOD," These things HE commands us to everyday and yet we struggle to do them at all.

These are just some thoughts FATHER has placed on my heart. I do wonder though what are we left with when the magic is gone and the tree is placed back in its box, when the spirit of Christmas has departed...”‹what remains? Christmas is an illusion, a made up thing to cause us to "feel" good for time, to deceive us into thinking that all is well, to fill a void temporally with things that pass away. It seems as if Christmas has taken on a meaning all its own, a meaning that does not point one to JESUS, a meaning that does not bear fruit to HIS teaching, a meaning of something other....”‹and as I look at those in the world around me I wonder what am I as a follower of JESUS to do with Christmas? The truth is there is a perfect gift given to each one of us but it was not given at Christmas, it was given at the CROSS. This gift does hold true value and comes at a great price but few will receive it. Sadly they are satisfied with the "magical feeling of Christmas" instead. They have no problem looking at the baby in the manger because it does not cause them to look at their own sinful hearts. They are content to "do good" in their own eyes for a time as it suits them until the business of life returns in January.

As another year passes I wonder still...

"Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did not die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world. Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; for he was wise enough to know that nothing ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter in the outset; and knowing that such as these would be blind anyway, he thought it quite as well that they should wrinkle up their eyes in grins, as have the malady in less attractive forms. His own heart laughed: and that was quite enough for him.

He had no further intercourse with Spirits, but lived upon the Total Abstinence Principle, ever afterwards; and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God Bless Us, Every One!"

And, as Charlie Brown said about Snoopy, "I'm not going to let this commercial dog ruin my Christmas."

I think there is a God-honoring way to celebrate Christmas. I always have, and always will love Christmas. I will admit that some of it is nostalgia but the focus and reason for all of it, at least for me, is the celebration and appreciation for the gift of the Christ-child.