We have come again to that most celebrated holiday of the year and what a wonderful time it is. There are many days through out the year that are set apart to remember the great men and women of history who impacted our world. However the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ surpasses them all. More money is spent on more gifts for more people than any other time of the year. Why is this? Tradition of course, but what we are celebrating is God’s gift to us. He is the image of the invisible God. In Him all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form. No other man in history evoked such radical reactions from people all over the world. In his time and still today over 2000 years later, even just the mention of his name, other than a swear word, creates all kinds of emotion! You can talk about religion, religious leaders, and even morality, but just mention the name of Jesus with any kind of reverence and you better get ready for serious reactions.
Why is this? Because the man whose birthday we celebrate on the Dec 25th CLAIMED TO BE GOD! He forgave sins, raised the dead and did all kinds of other miracles and historically rose from the dead himself. (Another great holiday)
I DON’T SUGGEST YOU MAKE THESE KINDS OF CLAIMS as they won’t honor you, they’ll handcuff you put you in A white jacket and take you away!
SO WHY THEN would we honor and celebrate a man who made these claims? Was he a lunatic, was he a liar or could it be that he truly was a Savior born in Bethlehem?
He was born in an obscure village
The child of a peasant woman
He grew up in another obscure village
Where he worked in a carpenter shop
Until he was thirty
He never wrote a book
He never held an office
He never went to college
He never visited a big city
He never traveled more than two hundred miles
From the place where he was born
He did none of the things
Usually associated with greatness
He had no credentials but himself
He was only thirty three
His friends ran away
One of them denied him
He was turned over to his enemies
And went through the mockery of a trial
He was nailed to a cross between two thieves
While dying, his executioners gambled for his clothing
The only property he had on earth
When he was dead
He was laid in a borrowed grave
Through the pity of a friend
Nineteen centuries have come and gone
And today Jesus is the central figure of the human race
And the leader of mankind’s progress.
All the armies that have ever marched,
All the navies that have ever sailed,
All the parliaments that have ever sat,
All the kings that ever reigned put together,
Have not affected the life of mankind on earth
As powerfully as that ONE SOLITARY LIFE
May you have the most blessed & Meaningful Christmas ever,
Dennis