December 19
In my earlier years walking with the Lord, I did not
celebrate Christmas after learning that all the elements of the
celebration came from pagan Rome.
But one day as I thought
upon the fact that Jesus was actually born during the fall Jewish
feasts, it suddenly occurred to me that if he was born in September,
then that means he was conceived in December. So I took a closer look
at that, and then it dawned on me that there IS a Jewish feast
in December, the feast of Hanukkah!
Hanukkah is called the
“feast of lights.” Jesus is said to be “the light of the
world.” Could it be ….? Could I actually join other believers in
celebrating Jesus in December? In December, not only believers are
celebrating Christ, but the whole world is as well. The celebration
of his birth, or conception, his coming into our world, has touched
the entire earth. It’s the greatest season of celebration the world
knows, and it’s all because of Jesus.
As I mused on this
subject some more, I saw something else that just delighted my heart.
The Jewish holy days are often 7-day feasts. And it occurred to me
that even the Christmas celebration could be said to be a 7-day
feast, from the 25th through the end of the year, and then the
following day begins a new year – just as the birth of Christ in my
heart so long ago began not only a new year for me, but a new life
altogether. I think the power of the story of the babe in Bethlehem
has defeated the power of the deceptions with which Satan has tried
to muddy it.
So I’ve attended some carol-singing, and my
heart has been touched more deeply than at any other celebration I’ve
ever taken part in. I rose up and rejoiced in all the worship
directed to Jesus during this season. I noticed as though for the
first time, the glow, the atmosphere, the wonder of the season, as I
did as a child. Well, when I was a child, Christmas was all about me.
But now it has become all about my Savior. And finally I’ve been
able to join in all the glory of the season, celebrating that Jesus
Christ the Savior, the light of the world, came into the world
whether you are celebrating his birth, or his conception.
So
I’ve come full-circle, from the selfishness of my childhood
Christmases, to the forsaking of all – out of a true love for the
Lord, and then back again as he has enabled me to see him in December, in
that impoverished room in Nazareth as his mother said, “Behold the
maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your
word.”
It’s not about a day, it’s about the Creator who
condescended to become Emanuel, God with us, in order to provide for
us the greatest gift a human could possibly receive, the gift of
pardon, and of the presence of Emanuel, the light of the world who
truly is the light of MY world.
It’s ALL about him!
