santa

P 2838 Our God is extraordinary in His devotion to us.

/ DVH

Around 2,000 years ago something incredible happened… Almighty God, did something astonishing – He came here personally, and lived among us. The One Who had walked and talked in the garden with Adam and Eve and led Abram to a new land; and talked to Moses from a burning bush – chose to live here, with people. Murderous ones, thieving ones, mean ones, nice ones, lost ones, promiscuous ones, as well as special…people!  Even way back then, the list of people who followed Him — or sadly, ignored Him — started to grow.

This very same incredible God then sent an angel to an ordinary girl who was about to be married. Almighty God sowed His eternal seed into the obedient heart of an honest, ordinary young woman. And that’s when the very first In Vitro-fertilisation occurred! (And WE think WE are so clever!)

The first point I want to make today is that when Mary was asked by God to give birth to His Son .. She said ‘YES’ — immediately. She said… “….I am the Lord’s servant, and I am willing to do whatever He wants. May everything you said come true.” And then the angel disappeared.” Luke 1:38. Right there, in her declaration, we can see something that was perfectly illustrated by Mary’s obedience and humility — the Wonders of God’s Love found a vehicle He could inhabit, for nine months, so He could be with humanity in PERSON. Jesus Christ walked, talked, slept, ate and was vulnerable in our midst.

He did that so humanity could become His people, back then – and now He with US – day by day. You know, God is still looking for a people who will say what Mary said: “Yes. Do with me whatever You want.” I would like to pray that He will be given free reign in all our lives. Amen! Imagine what that would look like! A people totally devoted to Him. But, back then in history, His own people progressively drove Him away. Well, not you and me exactly … but I think we would have if we had been there! 

Man’s greatest sin has always been rejecting the God Who created us in the first place! The people in the bible were just as human as we are, and most of them wanted nothing whatsoever to do with a God of such passion and purpose. They wanted a god they could manage – a god they could tell what to do. Humanity wanted a token god, someone who would judge between other people’s wrong and right actions, and approve of the one who was right – EG:… ME! And severely punish the other person who is quite obviously wrong: YOU! Especially if we don’t like each other, and we have a list of good reasons that have been carefully cultivated. 

We wanted SomeOne who would bestow lavish gifts on us, and make us feel good about ourselves. So eventually, we thought hard, and came up with a god that we made up, to worship at Christmas. He looks a lot like that overly rotund guy who appears everywhere, and he has a long white beard, and a bright red fur-laden suit, and a red hat. He was invented by clever men to steal away real faith from our kids – and cleverly introduce disappointment at the same time. As well as successfully sell stuff!

Unfortunately, the truth is that somebody manufactured this apple-cheeked person for marketing purposes! This jolly permissive person doesn’t intrude on the way we live at all. He conveniently only appears once a year – and big plus! -he  doesn’t want anything from us … except that we worship mammon, wherever and whenever we can! The god of this world disguised in bright red, who wants to buy our affection by giving us everything we want. Yeah, that one! I’m not a santa fan if you didn’t guess it already.

My second point is this: we rejected Almighty God and eventually killed Him … but because He is the only wise God, our Saviour, He made His death a vehicle that we can personally choose to embrace. We can be totally restored, back into fellowship with Him.  Just like Mary, we too can have – God on the inside. You know, It would have been so easy for this innocent girl to think that huge angel was a dream or the result of a fish pizza! She stood to lose a lot of credibility by her obedience – that answer changed her whole life. Who says obedience isn’t costly?! But the very Presence of God Himself inside her womb, overtook her fears and she obeyed – despite the personal cost. 

Our God also loves to give His people gifts. He gave us the greatest gift of all time when He sent His Son here, to earth to die for us.  But He knows that anybody can be robbed and ruined by indulging their appetites – so the gifts He gives us are not just for the person who receives them– they are for others. Our Heavenly Father is, and always has been, EXTRAORDINARY in His devotion to us all. Praise Him! 🙌

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. 🎁 👋🏻

P 2107 …and to all a good night!

/ DVH

I really wanted a Christmas-type emoji for something I was writing for this happy Christmas season, and all I could find was the face of santa, a fir tree, and two dudes in santa hats! 🤶🧑🏻‍🎄 Yeah. That says it all doesn’t it? Sigh. In our local mega-shopping centre we still actually do still have a nativity scene – it is safely tucked away, mostly hidden, behind the escalators. 🙄 In one place in Scotland they have banned nativity scenes, in case they offend someone. Score a sad and sorry point for the fat guy in the red suit!  That darn frog has been in the water far too long – we dun boiled the life out of it.

Sigh again.🙄 Maybe the retail sales people are scared of sales dropping off if the ACTUAL nativity – the reason for this season (!) was featured. Perhaps it would overwhelm those billions of baubles, twinkly lights, tinsel and so-called Christmas spirit – some of which comes gift wrapped, or even in handy containers! 🍺 Recently I went looking for Christmas cards and couldn’t find any that had a Christian scene on it in my local shops. I found holly, various snowy scenes somewhere or other – who knows where (!), gum leaves, koalas, kangaroos, beach scenes, flowers (!!??) 😳 … Um … since when is Christmas about native flora and fauna? I think it is – outside of our churches – Christmas is not about Jesus anymore. 

It seems the Western world has become obsessed with the idea of Christmas … but the reality has disappeared into the mists of time. Along with dodos, unicorns, personal responsibility and gobs of money! We’ve stopped marvelling at the fact that God Himself did something so incredible it almost burst our educated-idiot boxes, a-n-d … we’ve gone for immediate personal self-gratification instead! Yay US!! BTW, here’s a thought. Since when would you let your mum or dad drag out your baby photos on your birthday? Well HE’S not a BABY either. We sure have let stuff slide haven’t we?

I think I might be up for the the Grinch award. Hilariously, according to his wife, the real Grinch lives next door! For years our dear helpful and loving Buddhist neighbour was against putting up Christmas lights at all, and then we moved in. Boy did we rain on his parade. Oh my. Funny thing that, he constantly tells us how much he loves our lights! People don’t know what they do or don’t want. We need to pray like mad that the Holy Spirit comes with us to Aunt Marigold and Uncle Harold’s house – so the right spirit will prevail.

Meanwhile, I can reassure you that I am not against celebrating Christmas one bit – fa-lah lah lah lah 🎶 and all that. It’s just that I think we’ve moved wa-ay too far past singing carols outside other people’s houses, to remind them of the true meaning of Christmas, and ended up buying out the shops and maxing out our credit cards for the next couple of generations. Since when did Jesus … Who is called our consolation, become “stuff?” What are we teaching our kids? How to live beyond their means??? Hmmm. That did sound kind of Grinch-like …maybe some Grinch atmosphere has oozed over the neighbour’s mutual fence. Good!

Well, at our house we’ve decided to see Christmas as an opportunity to bless people. So we buy boxes of chocolates, tracts, pass-it-on cards and soft drinks on special, and then give them away to the people who do the grunt work to make all our homes function. EG: the garbage men, the guys at our local chemist, the meter man, people who bang on your door to sell you things, including alternative religions, delivery men, and the postie. That’s quite a few people we can bless, and talk to about the Lord. We don’t push anyone, but if they happen to ask a question – serves ‘em right! 🤣

The thing is, as Christians we need to deliberately and intentionally switch our POV away from any so-called inconvenience that requires effort ...over to God-given opportunities. We’ve been caught up in the buy buy buy Christmas rush too. I want to weep when I hear little ones talking about how santa is so cool, he’s going to bring them this and that. We’ve let our enemy over-run us and now the enemy IS US. Only God Himself can help us regain the ground we have lost. It seems it is time to repent, yet again. Hallelujah! Isn’t it wonderful, that our God can do anything. 👋🏻  

PS Handy hint for Christmas difficulties. When confronted by a disgruntled, contentious, difficult, grumpy person I am learning to tell myself: “I’m hanging on to my peace, you can’t have it, my GOD gave it to me, and  it is too valuable to give away to someone who wants to rob me of it.”