What Do You Do with Jesus at Christmas?

It is a strange question, but one that perplexes many people this time of year: what do you do with Jesus at Christmas? Is this a religious or a secular holiday? Since this year Christmas falls on a Sunday, do you go to church or open presents around the tree? Or both? How do you treat friends who insist that Jesus is the reason for the season? What about friends who do not believe in Jesus? How do you combine Santa Claus, baby Jesus, reindeer, and wise men into one season? What do people do with Jesus this time of year?

1. Ignore him. Xmas instead of Christmas. Trees and stockings, but not nativity scenes. “Deck the Halls”, but not “Away in a Manger”. Read The Night Before Christmas, but not Matthew 1 and 2.

2. Be a little religious. Be nicer to people. Focus on giving, not getting. Show up at church on Christmas day, or at least Christmas Eve. Make a charitable donation or two. Give some presents to the underprivileged. Include going to church and being a better person with your New Year’s Resolutions.

3. Keep Jesus a baby. Focus on the nativity. Attend the wise men, shepherds, animals, Mary and Joseph pageants. Be sure to go to the ones put on by the little kids. They are cuter than and not as startling as the real event was. This approach does not seem to recognize that the baby grew up and died on a cross. So save that for Easter weekend.

Jesus is more than a baby celebration for the holiday season.

4. Celebrate Jesus just like you do every day. Realize that Jesus did not come to earth so we could celebrate a birthday. He came to save us from our sins. That is the good news. He was born to die. He was raised to live. Jesus is not the reason for the season. He is the reason for every season.

As for me, I am happy to celebrate Jesus at Christmas… and in January, and in spring, and summer… and well, every day. If the holiday season has caused you to wonder what to do about Jesus, I would enjoy discussing it with you.

Let Christmas Deny the World

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?"(Matthew 16:24-26 NIV).

There is a wonderful line from the American scholar Stephen L. Carter that is appropriate to the Christmas season: "Religion is, at its heart, a way of denying the rest of the world." He is surely, astutely, and gloriously correct.

Faith's view of this world is strangely skeptical. No, more than that. It is a posture of unequivocal distrust leading to rejection! When the world recites its mantras — you matter only if you are beautiful, the most important thing is money, winning is everything, Look Out for Number One — faith protests them all. It adopts a posture of doubt and incredulity. It lives in skepticism and disbelief.

I refuse to believe that selfishness is acceptable or that it is permissible to resent another's good fortune. I will not swallow the world's way of thinking in order to justify prejudice, aggression, and hatred. No believer can be anything but incredulous about the claim of this world that she is entitled to anything she can get her hands on or that he should feel no guilt in exploiting others.

So let Christmas deny the world it's hold on your heart.

So distrust the alleged certainties of sense that cancel the mysteries of faith. Dispute the tendency of the masses to look forward only for the sake of declaring the impossibility of living with hope. Deny altogether the inevitability of such greed, hatred, and violence that we cannot prove the reality of love.

The Bible warns against being blinded by this world and speaks of the danger of the blind leading the blind. That warning puts us on notice that things, people, and ways of thinking totally rooted in the finite world of time, space, and matter will keep us from discovering, experiencing, and delighting in the greater realities of God, spirit, and eternity that can only be known by faith.

Faith isn't self-deception. It is neither wish projection nor wishful thinking. It is our willingness to hear and stand with the things God has shown us through events and people as awe-inspiring as a trembling, smoking mountain in the desert and as modest as a baby's first cry in the village of Bethlehem.

So let Christmas deny the hold of this world on your heart. Let it open your eyes to what the willfully blind will never see, your ears to things the incorrigibly deaf can never hear. See Immanuel — and know God is with us. Hear the song of angels — and receive God's peace given to anxious hearts. Hold the confusion, cynicism, and antagonisms of this troubled world suspect — and choose God's reign as your way of affirming the true realities.

Merry Christmas to all!

God's Chisel

ANGER: The Animal's Fury

Ever wonder why you can't control your anger? It's because there is a deadly animal inside you, tearing you apart. It's that part of you that says things that deeply hurt the people you love even though you don't really want to hurt them.

It's whatever produces the dark side of you - the bitterness, self-destructive thoughts, adulterous inclinations, and the anger. This is the side of you that you hate. The people you love hate it and God hates it, but you seem powerless to fight it off.

Jesus describes exactly who this animal is. He said in John 8:34 , "Everyone who sins is a slave to sin." Sin is this untamable monster inside of us and the Bible is very blunt when it describes what this animal will ultimately do to us. "Sin when it is full grown gives birth to death." The wild animal of sin is a killer. It can kill your relationships, self-respect, reputation, future, and ultimately it can take you to hell.

You're helplessly at the mercy of this killer animal except that someone intervened - someone who loves you like no one has ever loved you. In God's own words in 1 John 4:10 , "This is love, not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sin."

God knew that you could not survive the fury of this animal called sin, so Jesus turned all the fury of the animal on Himself when He died on the cross. The death He took on Himself wasn't just physical; it was the agony of an eternal hell. The amazing part is that He lives today and He has won the fight!

This incredible rescue could reach you this very day at the moment you put all your trust in this Savior to be your Savior. You know the power and the fury of the animal of sin. It's time you experienced the rescue of the One who loved you so much that He willingly turned the fury of sin on Himself.

ANGER: Volcano Scars

When you're angry, you're probably a lot like a volcano. You erupt, spew out your lava, and often blow away a piece of the other person, if not yourself.

Every one of us carries around parts of us that have been mortally wounded by something someone said to us in anger. They may have forgotten it, but we can't ever forget it because those create volcano scars. Why do we do this to other people and usually the people we love the most?

Proverbs 12:18 says, "Reckless words pierce like a sword." That's the awesome power of our angry, irresponsible words. Proverbs 18:21 says that "The tongue has the power of life and death." We can say things that make a person feel more alive or that make them feel dead inside. You've had it happen to you, haven't you?

The Bible pays a high tribute to a person who's under control. Proverbs 16:32 says, "Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city." That's real manhood.

If you're tired of erupting and leaving volcano scars on people, maybe it's time to follow the steps to becoming an extinct volcano:

1. Confess your anger and your reckless words as the sin that they really are. Bring it to Jesus' cross and treat it as some of the ugly sin that literally killed our Savior. Then confess it to the victims of your anger.
2. Don't let the lava build up; deal with issues right away.
3. Make yourself listen and ask questions before you speak. James 1:19 says, "Be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry." If you listen, you'll be slower to have anger.
4. Don't say anything at all until you're under control.
5. Make Jesus Christ the Lord of the raging animal inside you. We've all got one. That's the uncontrollable parts of us that are constant reminders that we need a Savior.

Give it to Him for this new day. If volcanoes could think, maybe they'd think twice about blowing their top. The volcano might reason, "You know, maybe I'll feel better for a while, but is it worth blowing away a part of myself? Is it worth blowing away a part of a person I love?" Well, when we think about it, we know it's not worth it. The tongue has the power of life and death and "reckless words pierce like a sword." Haven't we left enough volcano scars?

Ek Tu Hi Bharosa... Hindi Song..

ANGER: Human Volcanoes

It's tough living with a volcano that could go off any minute. Could that be how the people around you feel?

When the stress, pressure, and aggravation build up, maybe you become a human volcano - blowing up and doing some serious damage, especially to people you love. Like a volcano, the eruption is over fairly quickly, but the damage it does can last a lifetime.

Maybe your temper is part of your "dark side" and it is out of control all too often. It may be the devastating things that you say and do when you're angry, your selfishness that continually wounds and crushes people, or a sour negativity and bitterness that poisons your life and the lives of people around you. It's all deadly molten lava that keeps spewing out of your life - often hurting most the people you love most.

The battle you fight with your explosive dark side is not a new battle; it's at least 2,000 years old. Romans 7:15 says, "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do." That's a struggle we all understand too well, isn't it? The way we treat our mate, our children, our co-workers, and maybe our friends. We don't want to be that way, but we just can't seem to stop. The passage goes on to say in Romans 7:18-19 , "I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do - this I keep on doing." How many times have we resolved to do better and failed?

There is good news, because the Bible shows us how to move from despair to deliverance. Romans 7:24-25 says, "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ our Lord!" That's just what we need. We need a rescuer, someone who can lift us out of the trap of this sin-mess. That's where the hope is! Jesus Christ came here to deal once and for all with this sin monster that's so powerful inside us, sin that cuts us off from God now and forever. Jesus went to a cross where He died to absorb all the power and all the death penalty of our sin. Then He declared total victory three days later when He walked out of His grave under His own power!

He wants to bring that victory into your life to forgive every sinful, hurtful thing you've ever done and give you a new beginning. He stands ready to actually move into your heart, to control what you have never been able to control, and to beat what has always beaten you. He's the Rescuer reaching for you. Now it's up to you to reach back and grab His hand and tell Him, "Jesus, You are my only hope. I don't want to be like this anymore. I'm placing all my trust in you to be my Savior from my sin." With Him in your life, you don't have to be what you've always been. You can be what the Bible calls "a new creation" (2 Corinthians 5:17 ).

When Jesus was on earth, He was with His disciples in a violent storm that threatened to destroy them until He stepped to the helm and said three words: "Peace, be still!" The storm was gone. Today, He wants to do that for the storm that rages inside you.

Hindi Christian Song: Ae Mere Mann...

ANGER: The Longer It Waits, The Harder It Gets

Maybe there's a strained relationship in your life right now, and there have been too many sunsets and bad feelings toward someone. The problem is probably bigger than it used to be, but right now is the smallest it will ever be. This issue will never be easier to address than right now, no matter how hard that might seem to you. It's only going to get harder. It's only going to get more costly, and you'll only turn darker inside.



There's a good reason for this. It's like food remnants on dirty dishes. If you deal with them right away, they're soft and easy to remove. Just rinse the plate, and the food falls right off. If you wait, it turns hard so you have to scrape and work, and it's tough to remove it because it's stuck tight. Maybe that's why we call unresolved anger "hard feelings."

Anger turns hard very quickly, and that gives the devil an opportunity to enter a marriage, a parent-child relationship, a friendship, or a church. At the core of every marriage break-up there has probably been an issue that was once a small one, but it was not dealt with immediately. At the core of a broken parent-child relationship, a hurting friendship, or a divided church, there are people who didn't clean up their anger when it first appeared, when it was still small and relatively soft, so it's led to a terrible outcome. The devil got his foot in the door.







Ephesians 4:26-27 says, "In your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold." Here's the Biblical clock on strained relationships. That clock runs out at sundown every day. Remember those old westerns where the marshal might say, "You better be out of here by sundown." Well, that's what we're supposed to be saying to any anger, resentment, or conflict that comes up. "Get out of here by sundown."


Today is always your best opportunity to go to that person and do whatever it takes to repair things. Be willing to confront them to apologize and receive or give forgiveness if needed. Talk it through with them and pray together. You say, "Well, that's going to be tough." It won't be as tough as not doing it. You just cannot afford that hard spot in your heart that develops from the anger that you stuff inside. Don't let it grow instead of letting it go.

Anger and bitterness never stays the same size; they always grow. Remember the dirty dish. There is nothing to gain in waiting to resolve the problem, because the longer you wait, the harder it gets.

ANGELS: Fascinated with Angels

Are there really angels out there? In today's climate of curiosity about spiritual things we're fascinated with angels. There are all kinds of books about angels, T.V. programs, pictures, decorations, and toys.


We've started to look beyond earth stuff for some answers, for some hope. For many, this spiritual quest has taken them to the realm of the angels.


The truth can be found in the Word of God. God tells us where angels fit into the whole scheme of things. The Word of God says in Hebrews 1:6 , "And again, when God brings His first born into the world He says, 'Let all God's angels worship Him.'" It tells us here that there definitely are angels, and He commands all of them to worship His Son.


What's their job? We read in Hebrews 1:14 , "Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?" Angels are ministering spirits sent to serve. Other places in the Bible show that they're God's delivery people or messengers. What's important is who sent them. He's the One to pursue. He's the One to study. He's the One who should fascinate us.


You just learned something incredible about the One angels came to the earth to announce - God's one and only Son, Jesus. Later in Hebrews 2:9 it says, "But we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because He suffered death, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone."


Beyond the angelic messengers is a life or death message. Jesus left the glory of heaven to "suffer death." The one person in history who could not have His life taken from Him is the Son of God. He gave His life on a cross tasting "death for everyone."


The bad news from the Bible is that we are under an eternal death penalty for our sin - for running our own lives instead of letting God run them. The good news is that Jesus loved us so much He did what only He could do. He died the death penalty we deserve to give us the eternal life we don't deserve.


If you've been looking for spiritual peace and spiritual reality, it's been waiting for you all along, in Jesus. It becomes yours when you commit yourself to this awesome Savior. No angel, no prophet, no religion could die for your sins, only God's Son could do that, and He did. Your search could be over today. It can end at the nail-pierced feet of Jesus.