The Darker Side of Christmas
Check out Matthew 2:13-23
Incase any of us older generation in the quarter life range might be feeling a tad bit melancholy and are worried that maybe we are premature scrooges, perhaps we should consider the original Christmas. I mean, the first Christmas wasn’t so great for Jesus and his family! In fact, pretty soon afterwards they were running for their lives.
They had to escape to Egypt because Herod wanted to kill that rival king, but God’s plan was victorious. Herod was foolish enough to pick a fight with God and with the will of God.
But just as the angels said to the shepherds, "Don’t be afraid!"
I mean, we all have tons of things that scare us all the time. We have fears about being haunted by the memories of painful Christmas past, or maybe that (like in my case) we are too sick to enjoy Christmas present, or that we don't really have enough money, or maybe won't have enough money and time to give really nice presents in the Christmas future. Whatever the fears are, we don't need to have them. I would even say maybe God wouldn't like us having them. Jesus is the One that the world needs.
When people say Christmas is all about good things, remember that in this fallen world, actually the first Christmas was very tragic. Herod was a murderer, and so many lil babies were killed: Tragedy on Christmas.
Just like Pharaoh in the time of Moses.
The suffering is typical in this world.
The whole point of Christmas is not that things are happy and perfect and all jolly right now, but that Jesus came to buy us the most wonderful gift. He paid with His life, as we all know good and well, but that present is eternal life AWAY from suffering then. This life will still have tragedies, but there will come a time when every tear is swept away.
Jesus understands suffering, and so we can turn to Him when we suffer. We don't have to put on a fake cheery face for Him, as if He is fooled into thinking our lives are really perfect or something. But we shouldn't use our own suffering to diminish His suffering or make it out like our own hard times mean that we don't have to give Him the respect and admiration He deserves.
He is God! But I know a lot of times I don't really treat Him like a king. Sometimes I want to be ruler of my own life, and I don't want that rival king. So, just like evil Herod, I allow myself to get rid of Jesus by shutting Him out even during Christmas time; the very times when God should be adored for his awesomeness the most.
My crime is ignoring Christ and who He is and what He’s done for me.
But right now I'd like to return to Bethlehem in my mind, and just as Christ showed so much humility being born and laid in a feeding trough for an animal (as a new born! just think of the germs! ew!) I know that right now I need to humble myself now before God, and not quench His Holy Spirit.
What matters isn’t circumstances, but the relationship we can have with God.
This world can't offer anything that compares with that, and I need to start caring about what God sees in me, not what other people see in me.
Some other cool passages to check out are in Hosea 11 (being led out of bondage: think of it in terms of God's discipline with us not being in anger, but out of love and leading us back to Him away from the bondage of sin) and Jeremiah 31:(15) (to see how the old testament has been fulfilled even through tragedy itself.)
Incase any of us older generation in the quarter life range might be feeling a tad bit melancholy and are worried that maybe we are premature scrooges, perhaps we should consider the original Christmas. I mean, the first Christmas wasn’t so great for Jesus and his family! In fact, pretty soon afterwards they were running for their lives.
They had to escape to Egypt because Herod wanted to kill that rival king, but God’s plan was victorious. Herod was foolish enough to pick a fight with God and with the will of God.
But just as the angels said to the shepherds, "Don’t be afraid!"
I mean, we all have tons of things that scare us all the time. We have fears about being haunted by the memories of painful Christmas past, or maybe that (like in my case) we are too sick to enjoy Christmas present, or that we don't really have enough money, or maybe won't have enough money and time to give really nice presents in the Christmas future. Whatever the fears are, we don't need to have them. I would even say maybe God wouldn't like us having them. Jesus is the One that the world needs.
When people say Christmas is all about good things, remember that in this fallen world, actually the first Christmas was very tragic. Herod was a murderer, and so many lil babies were killed: Tragedy on Christmas.
Just like Pharaoh in the time of Moses.
The suffering is typical in this world.
The whole point of Christmas is not that things are happy and perfect and all jolly right now, but that Jesus came to buy us the most wonderful gift. He paid with His life, as we all know good and well, but that present is eternal life AWAY from suffering then. This life will still have tragedies, but there will come a time when every tear is swept away.
Jesus understands suffering, and so we can turn to Him when we suffer. We don't have to put on a fake cheery face for Him, as if He is fooled into thinking our lives are really perfect or something. But we shouldn't use our own suffering to diminish His suffering or make it out like our own hard times mean that we don't have to give Him the respect and admiration He deserves.
He is God! But I know a lot of times I don't really treat Him like a king. Sometimes I want to be ruler of my own life, and I don't want that rival king. So, just like evil Herod, I allow myself to get rid of Jesus by shutting Him out even during Christmas time; the very times when God should be adored for his awesomeness the most.
My crime is ignoring Christ and who He is and what He’s done for me.
But right now I'd like to return to Bethlehem in my mind, and just as Christ showed so much humility being born and laid in a feeding trough for an animal (as a new born! just think of the germs! ew!) I know that right now I need to humble myself now before God, and not quench His Holy Spirit.
What matters isn’t circumstances, but the relationship we can have with God.
This world can't offer anything that compares with that, and I need to start caring about what God sees in me, not what other people see in me.
Some other cool passages to check out are in Hosea 11 (being led out of bondage: think of it in terms of God's discipline with us not being in anger, but out of love and leading us back to Him away from the bondage of sin) and Jeremiah 31:(15) (to see how the old testament has been fulfilled even through tragedy itself.)