Please enjoy this re-posting of my blog from 2010....
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Many years ago, one of the children's Bible study groups at my church held a Christmas celebration. Everyone sang, "Happy Birthday, Jesus!" and began eating a specially decorated cake. As the children eagerly grabbed their servings, we heard a small voice shout, "Save a piece for Jesus! Where is Jesus' piece?!" This little girl could barely eat her piece of cake because she was so upset at the thought that we would celebrate Jesus' birthday, and then greedily consume all of His birthday cake.
How many of us are consumed with Christmas, but fail to live our lives in such a way that shows we honor not only Jesus' birth, but His life, the new life He gave us and the eternal life He will escort us into when He returns? Perhaps we find it easier to leave Jesus in the manger--as a humble little baby who represents hope, joy and promise, instead of the one who declared, "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but by me."
Some of us love hearing the biblical accounts in scripture, but we don't enjoy being accountable to what is in the scripture. We memorize all the heroes and heroines of the Bible, but fail to heed the admonitions of the Bible, such as those concerning Jesus' return.
It saddens me to no end that countless people throughout the world continue to fall for false Christs. I saw a program on the History Channel that showed three different men--one in the Phillippines, one in England and one in Russia--all claiming to be Jesus Christ.
Why are we so easily led astray when scripture clearly states in Matthew 24 beginning at verse 23:
"Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There!' do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect....the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory....He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."
When Christ returns, He will NOT be born of a woman as He was the first time. Anyone who is alive on this earth today and claiming to be Jesus Christ was born of a woman. And, regardless of when any of the false Christs were born, we do not and will not ever be celebrating their birthdays as marking the salvation of the world.
While scholars continue to dispute the exact date of Jesus' birth, there is no disputing that he was born some 2000 years ago, boldly declared that as the Son of God He would defeat death by resurrecting from the dead, and promised to return on the clouds to reclaim His own. Jesus is the only one to ever make AND keep such promises. THAT is the joy of Christmas for me and THAT is a birthday and life worth honoring.
BNcouraged!
Rev. Karen
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