Christmas is coming and we know that not only by the Christmas songs we hear on the radio, in shopping malls, or restaurants, but also by the traffic.  It seems like everywhere we go, any day we will hit traffic, regardless of the time of the day.  But there is one more thing I observe: on the street people are less patient. It’s like people are in a rush to get to their destinations.  For lack of a better word, I’d say that these days before Christmas, people are getting “crazy”.

I certainly hope that we are not one of those folks who are getting crazy over Christmas.  I surely hope we remain patient and calm; we give way, instead of pushing our way; we wait, instead of cutting our way.  We need not get to our destinations as soon as possible because there’ll be next time.  And we need not purchase the gifts today because there is no law—on earth or in heaven—that says that we shall have wrapped and given our gifts by December 25.

To put Christmas in perspective, it was never celebrated by Christ Our Lord or by His disciples.  In fact, the best guess is that it began to be celebrated sometime in the fourth century.  As Christianity started making inroads to European continent, it’s thought a good idea to replace the festivals celebrating the winter solstice with the birth of Jesus.  That’s the origin of Christmas celebration, but still, it is good to remember and celebrate the birth of Christ Our Lord. 

What we should never lose sight of is that Christmas is the Advent or the Coming of the Son of God to the world.  Oswald Chambers, the author of the popular devotional book, My Utmost for His Highest, makes an insightful comment about the coming of Christ, “The tremendous revelation of Christianity is not the Fatherhood of God, but the Babyhood of God—God became the weakest thing in His own creation.”  Christmas is the clearest reminder of this truth.

Pastor Paul