Sun, Dec 17th - 4:27PM

More Precious Than A Penny

Wed, Dec 13th - 1:07PM

Putting The Christ Back In Christmas

Friday, I visited the drive-thru at the bank.  When the teller finished my transaction, she said, "Happy Holidays!"

Instead of "Merry Christmas,"  all the businesses have the words "Happy Holidays" or "Seasons Greetings" scrawled on their windows.

And no one seems to acknowledge Christ in Christmas.  Nativities with no baby Jesus.  Our local continuous Christmas music station doesn't play carols that have Christ in them as often as they should. 

The only thing that doesn't change from year to year is that kids still can learn the true meaning of Christmas, if from no where else, from the Charlie Brown special.

I worry that this is a representation of how we live our lives--that we are edging Christ out.  We are too busy making ends meet, buying gifts, running errands and taking care of everyone and everything in our lives.  We have forgotten the most important person--Christ.

Who is Christ?  He is the Anointed One.  The burden-removing, yoke-destroying Son of God. 

So when we edge Christ out of our lives, we are saying we can handle things without Him. 

We are saying we like our burdens.  We like being stuck.  We like our yokes of bondage.  Those habits in our lives that we can't seem to get rid of on our own.  The smoking.  The eating disorders.  The cursing.  The lying.  The gossiping.  The anger.

If we could have overcome those habits, we would have, but we haven't. 

We need Him to come in and help us clean up our lives.  We need Him to remove the burdens.  We need Him to destroy the yokes.  We need His anointing.  We need to be saturated with Christ. 

Next time someone says to you "Happy Holidays" or "Seasons Greetings," I want you to think about what Christ did for you. 

He went to the cross for you.  He was beaten and bruised for you.  He died for you.  He took all your sins--past, present and future. 

He took your infirmities, your sicknesses and your diseases.  He took your poverty.  He redeemed you from the curse of sin,  sickness and spiritual death. 

He rose from the dead and went to Heaven to make a place for you.   And if you have accepted Christ, you have the assurance that one day, you will make Heaven your home.

That's how much He loves you.