A Devotional Thought From The Christmas Story In Luke 2

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.     Luke 2:10

Which shall be to all people!

Christmas is for all people. Many have heard little or nothing about it, and many are made uncomfortable just hearing the word, and many simply do not want it - any other religion’s holiday is okay, but if it’s about Jesus Christ they wish it suppressed, mocked, or so changed and trivialized that it becomes acceptable to an intolerant society.

Why do those who don’t believe react so strongly to a cheery “Merry Christmas,” or a carol being piped in over the intercom at the courthouse, or a nativity scene in the park? Why don’t they just say, “Oh, the Christmas season is a fun time for all of us, even those who don’t believe in it. It helps the economy wonderfully, in fact, without it the economy sometimes teeters on the brink of recession and would probably fall, but Christmas saves the day and makes things better. Christmas keeps the Christians busy, satisfied and politically docile and peaceful, after all they claim the baby is the Prince of Peace. So let’s just enjoy it, and forget about it after it’s over.”

Why don’t they say that? After all, if they don’t believe in or accept the meaning of Christmas what difference does it make to them? Ignore it, grin and bear it, increase business because of it, or pity it as you see fit, but why don’t they leave it alone for the rest of us. It seems logical that any freethinking person who believes in freedom of individuals to celebrate as they choose would express their belief in freedom for all by letting Christmas bless those who wish to enjoy it. So why do they target such an innocuous celebration that is generally helpful, and pleasing to everyone? Could the secret be that somehow in their heart they know that this religion’s story is true, and they want to suppress it? Perhaps they realize that if people learn that the baby of Christmas is a Savior who is Christ the Lord they will go to him in large numbers, and in faith.

Some of the best recognizers of God’s truth in the New Testament where those who refused to receive Jesus as Lord, in fact, His enemies. They recognized that Jesus was claiming to be God’s Son come into the world at Bethlehem, purposed to go to the cross at Jerusalem, but they refused to receive Him.  They, at one point in His ministry, wanted to stone him, and when He asked why they said, “…because that thou, being a man, maketh thyself God” (John 10:33). He was claiming to be God in the flesh, they refused to believe it, and certainly didn’t want society at large to acknowledge His claim by celebrating His birth. They didn’t want society acknowledging His birth, or baptism, or teaching, or miracles or death and resurrection. Neither does modern society.

Why? The great missionary, E. Stanley Jones, has written “The redemptive God is so desperately needed in our world that Jesus is inevitable. We cannot do without him. Can the lungs do without air, the eye without light, the heart without love, life without life? No more can we do without Christ.” (CHRIST AT THE ROUND TABLE, p.277, ©1928). Is the fight against Christmas the world’s acknowledgment of what Jones has written?

Merry Christmas!