I have been watching the funeral of George H.W. Bush and love the tribute that has been paid to him by all; Democrat’s, Republicans, friends and family.  All the circumstance and pomp, the church, carrying the casket down the stairs, the great speeches, etc.  It honors and reminds us, what he accomplished.

So it is with Christmas.

To remind us, of what God has done for us.  I watched a Christmas movie on Netflix the other day because someone recommended it.  It was called the “Chronicles of Christmas” and it was a well done, cute movie, but the only thing I kept thinking about thru the entire show was “they are brainwashing us about Jesus’s birthday!”.

The whole premise of the show was to get the little boy to believe in Santa Claus again, and yes, I have seen this premise over and over.  This one just hit me so hard and to the point, that we shouldn’t celebrate Christmas if we are going to have that mindset.  When it showed all the children asking for toys, all I saw was greed.

Jesus’s birthday was about God being born into this world, part human, part God, to give to us what we could not accomplish; a sacrifice for our overwhelming sins.

God could see we were a sinful people, and we needed a way to satisfy God’s anger.  Before Jesus, the sacrifices had also gotten to where they were not worthy.  The Priests were not being honest, and the people were not bringing appropriate sacrifices.  They were bringing animals with blemishes, instead of the best.

God’s anger could not be sufficed with this kind of behavior.  God sent Jesus to save us from His own anger.  God is a holy God and He cannot tolerate sin.  The Old Testament talks about God’s anger many times against us.  The most well-known – the flood.  God gave us the rainbow as a sign of His promise that He would not flood the earth again.

God’s anger against Sodom and Gomora, and the burning of those two cities, due to the sins of those people.  The Israelites when they were in the desert, and they formed the golden calf and worshipped it.  God opened the earth as thousands fell in, to their doom.  The sin of David and Bathsheba.  God took David’s son’s life, for that sin.

But then God shows us His compassionate side.  The loving grace that is free for the taking.  He sends His only son to us, in such humble beginnings, to set an example of love and forgiveness, to one another.

Who cares if December 25^th is Jesus’s real birthday, or not.  The date is unimportant, but the act itself, with all the pomp and circumstance, is the reminder to us that God loves us enough, to send us a savior.

I love the slogan “Jesus is the reason for the season”.

Teach your kids the truth, not what Hollywood has set out for them to see.

 

 

 

Karen Y. Stevens, Founder,

Orange County Christian Writers Guild