Ho, Ho, Ho … Merry Christmas!

That’s the phrase that is so dear to the hearts of many during this time of year. The question though is that the phrase we are supposed to hold to our hearts? Christmas represents the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This day is meant for Jesus’ birthday party. Typically at a birthday party, there is much fun, celebrating, and food. And at that birthday party the birthday boy or girl is always honored and placed at the head of the table and given mass amounts of gifts. What is different about Jesus’ birthday? He, like us, was born on a day in the year, so He should have a birthday party too. The thing is we set up a date for his birthday party, that is Christmas, but over the past few years we’ve been leaving the birthday boy out of the party. Each year we stop celebrating Jesus’ birth and start celebrating a big fat guy we call Santa.
At our Christmas parties we forget to bring a present for the birthday boy, we even forget to save a seat at the feast. How would you feel if you were left out of your own birthday party? You wouldn’t be very happy. Matter of fact you would be pretty sad. Imagine how the Creator of the Universe feels. Jesus Christ, born to die for our sins, saved all of our lives the day he died. The least we can do is show him some love on His birthday.
   
But if it is Jesus’ birthday then how come we give each other gifts? The answer to this question is the love of God. God loves every single one of us, and His purpose for our lives is to show His love throughout the world. What better way to show the love of Jesus Christ then to give gifts to everyone? Think about the wise men that came to visit Jesus on the day of his birth. They brought Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh. What was the new little baby going to do with gold? He wasn’t even old enough to understand the meaning of gold. The person that would receive and use the gold was Joseph. What was Jesus going to do with the frankincense? He was already a good smelling baby, so his mother would use the perfume. What was Jesus going to do with the myrrh? Myrrh is used for dead people for goodness sake! That was probably used on the grandma. Out of all these gifts given by the wise men none of them was used on Jesus. By giving these gifts though the wise men were showing their respect to Jesus and showing God’s love for His people.

On this Christmas day, we must remember to welcome the birthday boy, show God’s love by giving gifts, and then put Him at the head of the table at the feast.