The observance of no other event in history inspires in people such grandeur
as does Christmas. A spirit of wonder, generosity, love, joy, and the desire
of peace flow from the annual observance of the birth of the Prince of Peace,
Jesus Christ. The birth of Christ without His crucifixion and resurrection
would have been pointless. But there could have been no sacrificial death
and resurrection of Christ unless there had been His birth. His birth in
that humble stable of Bethlehem clearly displays for us the great love of
God for a sinful mankind, and the extent to which He was willing to go to
redeem us. No wonder Christmas inspires such a display of good deeds, even
among those who do not know our Savior!
Though we do not know the actual date of the birth of Christ, evidence
indicates that Christians kept Christmas around 354 AD. John Chrysostom was
a powerful preacher of the fifth century AD. He said that the 25th of December
was a pagan Roman holiday to celebrate the power of the sun. Christians selected
this date to celebrate the birth of Christ so while the heathen were busy
with their ceremonies, Christians would be undisturbed as they worshipped
Christ. It also gave them a witness in that they worshipped the true Invincible
One and the Sun of Righteousness.
From that time on, the annual celebration of the birth of Christ has been
a time of joy for true believers. There was a time during the English Reformation
(in the 1600's) when there was objection to keeping any religious observance
of a calendar nature. This came from a desire to rid the church of anything
tainted with idolatry and Romanism, and to make every day one of special
worship to the King of Kings. In 1647 Parliament abolished the keeping of
Christmas and Pentecost. This carried over to the American colonies. In Massachusetts,
one could be fined for keeping Christmas as a holiday free from work.
Many unscriptural traditions, such as the yule log, ivy and mistletoe,
Santa Clause and other myths, have crept into the observance of Christmas.
In our day, we have commercialized Christmas beyond recognition. For the believer,
however, Christmas is still a time of great thanksgiving. We wonder with
amazement that God so loves sinners He was willing to step from eternity,
walk among us, and die for us.
Dear friends, let us not allow the pagans of our day to push us into their humanistic, materialistic keeping of a holiday that couples worship of the dollar with sinful reveling, sprinkled with a few deeds of kindness toward others. Instead, may we be like the true believers of old and show to a watching society how to worship the coming of the Prince of Peace, the real reason for this holiday.