12.20.09
Christmas Evolution
It is the Christmas season again, the time of lights, mistletoe, gifts, and too much to eat. It is the time of hurry, hurry, hurry and stress. If you have even a glimmer of a belief in evolution; please explain how that original Christmas, the birth of the Christ Child, has become what we today call Christmas. As much as I try to understand how the birth of God’s Son under such meager circumstances has become a time of extravagance, too many gifts and too much to eat; I come up without an acceptable answer.
The Baby was a gift from God the Father to a lost world, sent with the expressed purpose of dying; not for a life of personal attainment but of sacrifice. The Wise Men that came from countries east of Israel sometime after the birth came to see the young child, to present gifts to Him, and to worship Him. They didn’t simply give a gift to a family member or to a neighbor to justify their need and desire to presents gifts directly to Jesus. Today we spend many hours preparing for this day we have set aside to celebrate Jesus birth. We spend many hours going from store to store searching for that perfect gift for that special person. We often buy something just to satisfy that need to give a present, spending time and money to fulfill the societal norms. We justify our efforts by saying it is our representation of what God did for the world. Sounds so good and almost holy but do we really even think of that precious gift from God as we scurry about the malls. God the Father set it all in motion and gave the first Christmas gift to those in need. Maybe we should reevaluate what we do and to whom we give gifts. To me if but one person receives a gift then that gift should go to the “Birthday Boy”. In this culture it is proper if a gift is given to give that gift to the one having the birthday. I doubt many of you have ever attended a birthday party and took gifts to all the guests and didn’t include a gift for the person having the birthday. Why did we allow it to evolve to the point that time and money is spent on everyone other than the appropriate one?
Wouldn’t it but fantastic for us to include Jesus on our gift list; actually His name should be first? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the most expensive gift was purchased just for Him? I am sure you are questioning my reasoning, wondering why would even mention such a ridiculous notion as to buy a gift for a person that is only here in spirit. If you bought a gift what would you buy for a spirit? My idea may sound foolish but it is Biblical. Let us read Matthew 25:40 “And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’
Christmas is truly nothing more than the celebration of a birthday; true, it is the birthday of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, but still it is a birthday. Our customs dictate that we give gifts to the one having a birthday. If we wish to remain in line with the customs of our culture then we definitely must give Jesus a present and He has provided the way to accomplish this. Can you begin to fathom the good and the help to those in need if we would follow the directions given in Matthew 25:40? All we need to do to give that special gift to Jesus is to give a needed gift to one of the least; the least are those with great need and God wants to use us to satisfy that need. If we fail to do as directed then possibly that need will exist longer and those with the need will suffer longer.
As I was thinking about writing this, I thought what could happen to change the world if all the money spent on Christmas presents would be used to meet the need of the poor and suffering. Isn’t that what Jesus is all about—love. God so loved, Jesus came and died all for the love they have for us. We are to reach into ourselves and pull that love of God out from our core and share it with those around us; those in the greatest need. If you are wondering about the effects on the economy; relax, the same amount of money is being spent, it may be for different things now but the cash flow is still the same. Well, maybe that isn’t completely true since much of what we do now is on credit and would we still go into debt to help the less fortunate.
Another thought surfaced, consider all the time expended with preparing for Christmas; multiple hours spent running back and forth, up and down the halls of all the retailers, time spent wrapping each present just so soon that bright paper can be ripped off to reveal what is hidden. What if even a percentage of this time was given to do good for those requiring help? How would it be if some of the time we spend on Christmas was given to servicing meals to those that are hungry? We could spend some time passing out blankets, coats, and gloves to those that must endure the cold. We could do many wonderful things for the least of our society, those that according to the Bible represent Jesus.
Christmas is a wonderful time of the year but we could make it wonderful to many more if we would follow the example of God the Father and give that Christmas present to a world in need.
