Christmas

Merry Christmas to all,

It is that time of year again, when we celebrate the day that Jesus was born.

It is a time to comfort ourselves that the day, for us, is a day of an affirmed commitment and a celebration of the Gift that Jesus gave us, his gift delivered with his determination to follow his Father’s direction, teach his Father’s message to us, form his church and ultimately endure the trepidation that he must have felt and the pain that he knew as he eventually took his last breathe as a human representative of God to the human race.  He was God as his father was within him as he was within his Father.  They are as one.

His life was meant to set the record straight and allow us to know God’s expectations of us and God’s desire for us.  He was also to tell us of the covenant from God made to us.  That promise is simple:   If we will accept Jesus as our savior and liaison to God, repent of our sins and live to our utmost as he would have us live, then we will receive his gift of eternal life, free of the hazards found on this earth today, probably much like he planned for us in Eden before the original sin.

We will live in joy and health, immune to temptation.  There will be no misunderstandings of his expectations of us as we will have already  proven our worthiness to join him in heaven — which turns out to be our home on a new earth, “where all things are made new”, including us.

Though gifts were presented where respect was shown to Jesus by wise men, gifts are but a symbolic gesture of the season unlike what our marketing gurus would have us believe.  Wrecking our budgets and creating unmanageable debt to over do does not represent the joy that we can find otherwise, simply by rejoicing that our savior has come and gone to prepare a place for us if we are willing.

It should give us pause that we give more “air time” to Santa Claus than the real reason for the season.  Or, at least, the birth of Christ and the celebration of that event can get lost in the mounds of wrapping paper left under the tree and strewn throughout the house, especially for our children.

We need to remember that the real Gift, is that gift of salvation through Jesus from God given to us so that we may make this world a better place through his church while we earn a place on the new earth with God.  The church is the great restraint for Satan.

What is never mentioned is that God will surely rejoice in our gift to him as he will know, as our creator, that we honor him, love him and thus,  strive to please him for He is our Father.  Our best decision for him and for ourselves is to give God our gift of acknowledgement and appreciation for our existence in the manner that He requests it.

Merry Christmas

TPP