"CHRISTMAS MUST BE TONIGHT"

 

The Band.....
Not known for "Gospel" music, but here they strike a chord.
I tend to either be extremely nostalgic or stand outside the norm.
I think that is why I like this song so much. The voices aren't polished but they work. They convey the heart of the season.

It's so easy to take the truth of why we celebrate Christmas and wrap it in a whole lot of "SELF". It's about the perfect tree. If you've been good...I mean really good, then you'll find a new car in your drive way with a big red ribbon and bow wrapped around it. And the list goes on and on while our souls shrivel and die for want of a Savior. We supplant the need for Christ by filling up our lives with "things". Now before you go all in on me, let me remind you that "things" in of themselves are not evil. They are simply things. The trouble comes when those things feed our dark desires, wants and needs to the point that they become the most important part of our celebration.

So in my heart, the true celebration is a precursor to the celebration that we will experience when we stand before the one who brought Christmas to us. It won't be a small baby boy that coo's and ah's....it will be the risen, glorified Lord. The Jesus with nail marks in his hands and feet. The Jesus who was pierced with a Roman spear to make sure He was dead before they buried Him. And when Jesus' side was pierced blood and water flowed out. Don't you find that strange? Not the fact that such happened, but the order in which it happened.

First came blood = a symbol for the salvation that Jesus brought to all  humanity.

Then came water = a symbol for the washing or regeneration that we experience when we first come to Christ. Just as God opened up Adam' side and took a rib to fashion woman, the side of Christ was opened and God used the blood and the water to fashion Jesus' bride....the church.

Merry Christmas....
God on you........
mb