adminBut I am sorry that I might have to burst your bubble and possible destroy the fun, but I have got to straighten out some things here. Many a times people think that Christmas is a time for the rules to be broken and for people to do whatever they want.
During this season even parents allow their children to drink alcohol and to go out at night and have “fun” — all in the name of the joys of the festive season. Question? What is this thing they call “Christmas” and this season that we are in? It really is many things to many people but one thing that I can tell you is that it is a celebration of the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and it is a time for the body of Christ to reflect on what a gift that Jesus was to us. He was the price the Father had to pay for our salvation.
That scripture we learnt at primary school says it all. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” See, what God did when He gave us Jesus is not anything that anybody else could have done.
Imagine, all the prophets had come with messages from God and they tried to make the people of God understand the heart of God during that time but the Bible says that the people had hearts of stone. This was the case for a long time until God decided to come on His own. Coming on His own in the form of His Son and kinsman redeemer shows us how much God really places value on us. He had been tired of having to have the blood of animals cleanse our sins and He prescribed His very own for the salvation of mankind.
John 10:10 says “The thief comes only to steal, to kill and to destroy; but I am come that they might have life and that they might have it in abundance.” Christmas is a time of celebrating ‘that life’ which Jesus came to give us. However, I want the people of God to notice something here; for us to have this life there had to be the death of the Son who had come. In the kingdom of God, there is no way you will experience life unless you decide to ‘die’ — dying to your fleshly lusts, dying to your sin, dying to all the worldly impulses that might try to impede your progressiveness as a Christian.
Christmas time is a time to die the same way Paul asserts his continual dying in 1 Corinthians 15:31 when he says, “Day by day I die, by your rejoicing, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Dying is the process of yielding your life to the Lord and allowing Him to run every part of it. The life of God, I’m sorry to say, is not something that we just receive at an event — the gift of eternal can be gotten at an event, but this life that we receive which is in abundance is a product of effort.
When I was born again I died in many things. I do not hang around at certain places, I do not acquaint myself with bad company and I do not allow certain things access in my life. This was not easy by the way. Remember, some of this stuff that we do at Christmas has been cemented as tradition and normalcy in our lives over the years, forgetting that God is still on the throne and He does not tolerate all the sin that we might want to get involved in.
It’s saddening sometimes when I walk the streets and meet young teenage girls walking with these young men, drinking and doing all that you can possibly think of, all in the name of Christmas. I don’t think it would be a problem if you probably decide to do what you want because it really is a personal choice at the end of the day, but please do not do it in the name of Christmas because that is highly offensive to the Lord.
One of the most interesting traits about our God is that he is a jealous God — He can’t have you to Himself and share you with anyone else. The Bible says in Zachariah 8:2, “So says Jehovah of Hosts: I was jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I was jealous for her with great fury.” See, God is not only jealous but He is also furious when it comes to double standards.
Why should you follow everybody when they are in a hype mode doing what they want? I know people are planning parties, get-togethers and various outings during this time and it is absolutely good for those meetings to take place so that people can meet and have fun. But how are you going to have fun? And where are you going to be? You might have to consider going to church, whether you worship on Saturday or on Sunday since this Christmas is during the weekend. You might have to also consider spending sometime with your family and loved ones too. Like I said, I’m sorry to have to burst your bubble but we cannot be clapping hands and keeping quiet when people are losing themselves, worse still in the name of Christmas.
So, what is it going to be? You have got to decide to die to yourself this Christmas and continue along the same vein even as you go on with life. Let us continue to love the love and be responsible. Thank you once again for the shout-outs on Facebook and the text messages; I’m really encouraged by what God is doing in people’s lives through these articles.
Merry Christmas!
If Christ is anything, let him be everything.
- Bruce Itai Chimani is a BSc in Journalism and Media Studies student at NUST. He can be contacted on [email protected]. Facebook Page: Itai Bruce Chimani. Blog: www.bruceitaichimani.wordpress.com
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