A quick Christmas quiz, are you ready? Who is the jolly man who wears red suit that goes around town and give gifts every Christmas? Right it is Santa Clause, and who do you call the most famous reindeer of all? (like in the song) Of course it is Rudolf, who would miss that. Last, according to a famous Christmas song, what is the color of Christmas from the line, “ I’m dreaming of a _ _ _ _ _ Christmas ”? Yes, it is white. According to the song the singer (Bing Crosby) is dreaming of a white Christmas. So how was it? Did you do good?
Now, try this another set of Christmas quiz, are you ready? In which two books of the bible was the story of Jesus’ birth narrated? Well it is in Mathew and Luke only. Another, how many wise men visited Jesus? The answer… the Bible doesn’t say. Mathew 2:1, says that there came wise men from the east of Jerusalem but it doesn’t say how many but definitely more than one. We only assume there were three of them because there were three gifts , they are gold, frankincense and myrrh. The Bible also doesn’t have names for the wise men. It is only through tradition that we are able to get the names of Melchor, Gaspar and Balthazar. Lastly, true or false. “December 25th has been celebrated as Christmas since the Bible was written.” The answer “False”. Although the Bible talks about the birth of Jesus, it never uses the word "Christmas". As best as we know, the earliest Christians didn't celebrate Christmas. Later, several different dates were observed by Christians but it wasn’t until about the 4th century that December 25th became the common day of celebration. The fact is that no one really knows when Jesus was born.
How was the quiz? Did you fare as good as the first set of quiz? Well let me guess, most people will likely get all the answers for the first set of quiz than on the second set. Why? You see the world celebrate Christmas very different from the first Christmas event. The one point in human history where God’s only begotten Son took the form of man and was birthed into the world to be its savior.
Sadly, things like Santa Clause is more widely known by children around the world than Jesus Christ . The story of Rudolf, the little drummer boy and snowman are more familiar than the Nativity story. All of these things are harmless and we can use these things anyway to express the message of Christmas but let us be careful not to make these things as absolutes for Christmas. Snow can be a good expression of the western experience of Christmas but one can’t say that Christmas is not complete without snow… it can become a dangerous expression of materialism that negates the value of God’s great love for the world.
Express the message of Christmas as much as you can– We are not saying that decorating our houses nor giving of Christmas gifts is bad, in fact we Christians should be the most expressive people on Earth in celebrating Christmas. How? We do this by using these material things as symbols to communicate the true message of Christmas. Let us use the star/ lantern and other Christmas decors as symbols that points to the baby Jesus who became the savior of the world. Christmas gifts are reminders that the greatest gift was given to us by God through the person of Jesus Christ. So go ahead decorate, receive and of course give gifts!
Make sure that when you celebrate Christmas you celebrate it with the birthday celebrant– Can you imagine an occasion where people come to a birthday party merrily sing happy birthday, happily eat sumptuous food and joyfully exchange gifts... but the odd thing is that the birthday celebrant is left outside because no one wants to let Him in. This is the picture of Christmas in the world. Many celebrate Christmas, the birthday of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ but they celebrate it without Him. That is not Christmas, in fact it is an anti-Christmas occasion. It disgraces the occasion because it dishonors the celebrant.
Invite Jesus Christ as the honored guest of your life today, make Him your Lord and Savior and make everyday a Christmas day celebration!
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