Christmas or No Christmas

Christmas, what a festive time of the year. The poinsettia, known as the Christmas plant--its name means flower of the holy night--the old story was the flower that came up in the ground and faced Jesus when he was in the manger. The holly, oh so beautiful, yet will cause great pain when stuck by its silky leaves - holly actually means plant with red berries :). Holly did not come from the word holy...it was a combination of different languages pulled together to make one word for all. The holly, with the prickly leaves, was used to hang around doors and windows to rid off evil spirits. The holly came to represent Christmas, because of its red berries that looked like blood and Jesus blood was shed to save us all. The holly was said to protect men and its cousin the ivy plant was used for protecting women.

All of my childhood, my family celebrated Christmas. We would take turns gathering at each others houses, the presents would cover the tree too the tip top and food enough to feed an army. What happened to the good old days of just enjoying the family, singing church and Christmas songs? We talked about the birth of Christ and of course let's not forget about the mid-night services...we had church!

Today, Christmas has turned the world into a big fat debt! Most people are just buying gifts in hopes of getting gifts, but is the family coming together and celebrating Christ? After all, he really was the reason for the season.

Many years ago, before I was born, there was a man named Saint Nicholas, who gave a dowery to help poor women get married. A dowery was money that was given to the groom's family. Saint Nick, later was named Santa Clause and the given to the poor continued. There is nothing wrong with given to the poor, in fact the word of God tells us to give our second coat to our brother if we see he has none.

Lately, there has been a lot of people saying DON"T CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS! I am curious as to why celebrating Christmas is an issue? O.K., I agree that all that over spending and fleshly stuff is not good, but celebrating Christ is good, because when we look at the word Christmas, we are looking at more of Christ. The first part of Christmas is the name Christ and the second half of the word is mas, which means more in spanish.

Next is the Christmas tree...the tree represents Christ hanging and dieing on the tree to save us. The lights on the tree represent us, because we are to shine in the dark world to lead people to Christ or Christmas (Christ more). Next we have the star on the top of the tree, which is a symbol of the east star that lead the wise men to Jesus when he was in Bethlehem in a manger.

Matthew 2:1-2,

Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,

Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

The gifts under the tree represent the wise men bringing gifts to lay at the feet of Jesus, and the gifts are also representing the gift of the fruit of the spirit.

Galatians 5:22,

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness and faith.

Jesus had wrapped up the perfect gift of life through his death and resurrection and he sent the holy ghost to comfort us.

Before we just throw away the whole idea of Christmas, let's make sure we know what we are throwing away; in addition, make Jesus the reason for celebrating Christmas and make the gift giving about those who are really in need...feed the poor, clothe the naked, house the homeless, give away a car or truck seeing you have 3-4 vehicles and only 2 people.

James 2:15-18,

If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, d,epart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?

Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

Merry Christmas to you all! Yes, I said Merry Christmas in the sense of be joyful in Christ more...

Proverbs 15:15,

All the days of the afflicted are evil: but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast.

Yes, Christmas is a time of feast and being merry is good for the health.

Proverbs 17:22 ,

A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.

Proverbs 15:13,

A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.

Merry Christmas is OK with the Lord because He tells you being merry is accepted...

Ecclesiastes 9:7,

Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works.

Before you go out and get in debt, talk with your family and share this good news and break the curse of the works of the enemy trying to make Christmas something it wasn't intended to be...this year plan to bless those in need, instead of giving to those who already half their needs met. Train the children that will lead the next generation the right way. Amen