Recently I’ve been watching online videos of how some people decorate their homes for Christmas. There are some folks who decorate with more than one Christmas tree. As in they have a beautifully bedecked tree in almost every room. What’s more is that their Christmas embellishments include doorways, mantles, countertops, tabletops along with pillows and throws to complete the theme. Don’t forget the pinecones, yards of ribbon, ornaments, holly branches, candles, figurines and Christmas music softly playing in the background. Did I miss something? Oh yes, the hot apple cider on the stove wafting through the house. I love it! There’s no lack of admiration on my part for the energy and creativity of these folks who create such beauty during this season!
For now, my checklist as I write this is that I need to ask my husband to take down our nativity scenes from our rafters. I have three in all and I confess, I hope to keep adding to the collection over time. We do have a Christmas tree and yes eventually that will make it’s debut.
Whilst I find the beauty of the season so special, the main thing or shall I say the reason for the season must firmly hold my affections.
Christmas holds so much more than the few short weeks of the sights and sounds of the season we all enjoy. The bible tells us, “It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners…” 1 Timothy 1:15
All that man has conceived to try and fix our condition in this fallen sin sick world has brought neither inward peace nor outward security! Review the wars, the poverty, the perversion, the angst and the anger since the garden. Look at the attempts to reform ourselves politically, ethically, environmentally, and psychologically. How has the worked for us? We are still attempting to manage at best the social and moral ills that are prevailing globally. Could it be as the Bible has been teaching us all along? “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.” John 3:19
Jonathon Edwards said, “God saw that THE SAME WORLD WHICH WAS THE STAGE OF MAN’S FALL AND RUIN, SHOULD ALSO BE THE STAGE OF HIS REDEMPTION.
Nothing could be truer! Nothing could be more timely and profound to captivate our hearts. We will only be made whole when we recognize that our true redemption was answered on that Christmas morning two thousand years ago!
Long lay the world in sin and error pining
Till he appear’d and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary soul rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn!
The beauty of Christmas indeed.