Commercialism

P 2566 JESUS is the reason for this season – TOO!

/ DVH

Easter is well advertised where I live. Chocolate bunnies, chickens and eggs, pop up like daisies all over the place, weeks and weeks before this season comes along. These things clog the supermarket aisles and sell like we’ve never seen chocolate before. At the same time, the hot cross buns with all sorts of weird ingredients started appearing right after Christmas! After all we mustn’t miss an opportunity to sell SELL SELL!

The local fishermen love Easter time, loads of people eat all kinds of fish this weekend and they count on selling tons of it! I saw a snippet from a news story the other day where it was suggested that the crosses on top of these buns were old-fashioned, so one bakery has started putting a Nike tick on the top instead!  True story!

Recently, a trusty news crew went out to interview people on the street and asked them what they thought about this new development of hot cross buns without the crosses. One young lady said: “Well, we are a secular society so I don’t think it matters.” My first thought was, ‘She’s right!’  And my next one was: ‘Whose fault is it that she thinks that way?’ Sadly the more I thought about what that young lady said, the more it made sense. Isn’t that tragic? Easter has become the reason for all kinds of gluttony.

Too many years ago, somebody somewhere at sometime or other, thought putting crosses on top of a spiced bun was a great way to celebrate and remind everyone about what Christ did for them. But now the true meaning has been LOST over time. However, after I prayed about it, I began to be glad that people today are actually rejecting the whole thing. This is happening because nobody has told them about the reality. The reality would definitely blow them away – IF somebody who knows the Saviour, took the time to tell them!

It is sad to me that the average person in our society thinks that Easter is all about what we eat, as well as a couple of nice public holidays. Speaking for myself, I have never actually been a fan of the symbolic – whether it is a rabbit, a bun or a chocolate egg. And, right here and now, I simply must mention my distinct aversion to that jolly red fat guy who pops up at Christmas – I don’t like HIM much either.  At the same time, I am also not crazy about those baby in the manger pictures as well. Do people bring out your baby photos when they are celebrating your birthday? I think not! 

HOWEVER, if ALL Christianity has to offer is a cross on a BUN, or rampant rabbits, exorbitant gifts and chocolate eggs or a tiny baby born under adverse circumstances – no wonder they could care less! That got me thinking about what really matters. It is so easy to get stuck on how far down the plug hole our society has gone, and gloss over the fact that this world’s apathy toward God, has been caused by the church’s silence …. plus a lack of obedience by ordinary people like me.

Fortunately, the reality is Jesus Christ doesn’t need advertising gimmicks, or pretty foil covered chocolate, to gain popularity and fame be-cau-se … even though He was exactly like us, humanly speaking, and we probably would have passed Him in the street, dismissed as just another middle Eastern man. This MAN changed this world FOREVER. How? Not by clever sales marketing or other 21st century tricks, but by Who He is and what He chose to do for people He has never met. 

Yet we avoid telling His story, the reality of what He did, because we find that truth somehow distasteful. Hmmm. It is odd how we can cheerfully watch all kinds of people shoot one another apart, or blow-up, slice, dice, plus punch and kick each other to bits … for entertainment… yet it seems that the sight of an innocent pure man hanging, dying on a cross, is not palatable or marketable! He has been described perfectly in Isaiah 53:1-6, long before He was born … like this: 

“Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces He was despised, and we held Him in low esteem. Surely He took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered Him punished by God stricken by Him, and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds we are healed.”

Maybe this seemingly ordinary man is far more challenging than anyone thinks, when He is authentically and passionately presented to others by people who actually know Him. It would be good to clear the market place of rampant commercialism and present something real for a change! I seem to recall writing about that yesterday? Something about Jesus clearing God’s temple out of money lenders and sellers??

The Lord Jesus IS the reason for this season, and we need to take our responsibility to walk with Him seriously, and use this opportunity to shine His light into other people’s lives. There are no secret agents in His kingdom … whether they supposedly look like rabbits, chicks, buns, or way too much chocolate! Perhaps then people will believe our message is authentic. It all depends on how seriously we take our faith. Bye. 👋

P 2472 Something incredible happened … because of the wonderful goodness of God.

/ DVH

And because of one particular event, Father God has decreed that His goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our lives. These things are following us, because God loves all His kids – even the ones who don’t care to know Him! We don’t know the actual date of Jesus Christ’s birth. However, this world has many references to Christ’s Presence, in historical works, apart from the bible itself. He was in fact, a Jewish man, who lived a mostly hidden nondescript life … until He was 30. 

Please note:  Jesus did not have blue eyes and long brown/blonde hair. He was not Caucasian, and I’m pretty sure He did not walk around in some sort of light blue and white oversized nightie! He wore what the men of his time wore. After all, He was born Jewish, so Jesus Christ looked just like all the other Jewish men around Him. Oh, and there was no halo around His head either. We also know He had a beard because the report about His crucifixion says His tormentors pulled that out, bit by bit. His eyes were probably deep dark brown, and personally, I think they were incredibly kind. 

One day, after about 30 years, Jesus Christ’s life exploded into public view. I guess His Heavenly Father, God said: “It’s time.” And so Jesus went to be baptised by his cousin John, to fulfil what was asked of Him. Meanwhile, John the Baptist had a recognised ministry. His job was to tell people they were not right with God, and needed to be baptised and repent from living the way they were living. Which is actually a pretty relevant point to think on even today!!

So why does there seem to be all this fuss about an infant at Christmas? After all  — He’s not an infant anymore! He’s the King of all Kings and Lord of Lords and you would definitely know that in His Presence! Even evil people or self-important people crumble into a foetal position. He is no longer a baby in a barn. Jesus is not just the ‘reason for the season” … He is the reason this life is worth living, for those who follow Him. People all over this world acknowledge His birth for a number of reasons…  but why do we celebrate the birthday of an infant born in a country so far away from most of us? 

I think that Christmas, as we know it today, has been overtaken by commercialism, which is a natty reason to make more money.  Plus we now have Santa Claus… or whatever you happen to call him, wherever you live. A big, jolly, red distraction. I’m of the opinion that poor old Saint Nicholas is probably rolling over in his grave with what we have done with his loving gesture toward the children of the poor! He was following Christ in His own way, but we have managed to transform His selfless deeds into yet another shopping experience. Sigh.

Here are some reasons that I thought some people might have to continue to celebrate Christmas. Is it an opportunity for your family and mine to get together, and pretend they all like each other? … (but in reality we chew our nails down to the quick hoping no-one will say something abrasive or provocative!) Is it a time to decorate the house within an inch of it’s life? Maybe it is an opportunity in an incredibly busy year, to give a brief thought to what we hope we believe … and then go camping with other families in the bush or by the sea. In other words do we have Christmas for Jesus Christ or for us? It is, after all, HIS BIRTHDAY!!

The thing about Christmas, is that it has gone from celebrating Christ, to being a whole lot of things it wasn’t designed to be. That’s why I think this season hardly ever works out the way we all hope it will. Christmas today nearly sends nice people into bankruptcy, because they can’t afford to buy what their kids want, or what the little darlings think they deserve. And the overworked parents feel guilty if they can’t cough up. It’s become a time when we have to be nice to rellies that we hope will magically disappear from our sight … until next year. If that’s bit close to the bone, maybe you need to think about why you celebrate Christmas.

What does Christmas mean to you? Who do you think Christ is? Is He just a baby Who lived once long long long ago, and did extremely kind things for people and then He died? Do you actually celebrate Him? You take a holiday, and time off work, in His Name … but do you know the One Whose birthday you are celebrating?

I think if we limit ourselves to just looking at a manger with a newly born infant in it, then we have done what we always do. We’ve limited Almighty God again, because we don’t understand Him or His Ways – or don’t care to! Plus we are overlooking the goodness of God toward ALL men. That’s right, nobody has been left out. Everyone. And I don’t care what you’ve done…. neither does He. 

We owe a debt, Jesus Christ paid it for us. What are you planning to do with the gift of time, that He gave you? Spend it wisely, my friend. Merry Christmas. 🎁 👋🏻