to the Earth as a Babe in Bethlehem. Matthew 2:9,10 gives us an understanding of the wise men and their thinking; “the star they had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem… When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.”
Many of us earthlings celebrate The Birth of The Messiah, Jesus Christ on December 25th, a day some call, Christmas. This day has been tattooed upon our minds and hearts to give us pause in thought-time to stop and sing for His Birthday; Glory to God in The Highest!
My favorite part of Christmas is to read, sing and pray:
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” Luke 2:14
Then I read, “Jesus wept.” John 11:35
” As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it.” Luke 19:41
Gill’s Exposition:
“And when he was come near, he beheld city,…. Of Jerusalem; being now nearer, and in a situation to take a full view of it, he lift up his eyes, and looking wistfully on it, and beholding the grandeur and magnificence of it, the number of the houses, and the stately structures in it, and knowing what calamities, in a few years, would come upon it; with which being affected, as man, he looked upon it, and wept over it; touched with a tender concern for it, his natural passions moved, and tears fell plentifully from his eyes.’
I wonder today if Jesus Christ is weeping over our Cities? Our Nations? I think so. Why? Because, Hebrews 13:8 records, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” He cares, yes, He still cares for All nations and peoples, I believe. This is why I celebrate Christmas?
Why do you celebrate Christmas, if you do? What is your favorite part of Christmas?
thedailylily.com 
Gill says that Jesus wept over the the city of grandeur and magnificence, houses, structures et al. But I imagine Jesus wept even more over her when He cried out, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you that kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!”(Luke 13:34)
Do I hear Jesus is saying, even now, “O America, America….you who have forgotten the pillars of morality and integrity upon which you were founded; the administrative principles found in my Word, the Word of God, the Bible America which was to be My Sanctuary, where I would dwell ;for blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord…and you have forgotten. How often I have tried to come to you and you will not!
But some of us will, dearest Lord Jesus. Oh come to my heart Lord Jesus, there’s room in my heart for Thee.
Your question, Sara, ‘do you celebrate Christmas and if so name your favorite part’. Yes I do celebrate Christmas. …Of course when I was a child I loved the tree…we always had a natural tree even before it was “in”. Only later, I believe when my parents got older did we have the artificial tree for a few years.
But now that I am older, the decorated trees, the poinsettias, the Christmas music…Handel’s Messiah….the Nutcracker…the charitable giving…things change. Priorities change; dreams fade; But the one thing that remains constant is the little Baby Whose birth we commemorate on that day….He doesn’t change. He is JESUS, yesterday in Bethlehem; today in my heart and tomorrow in the clouds. but it is that same Jesus Christ that the angels spoke of to the disciples as they watched Jesus ascend unto the Father in the clouds. “This SAME Jesus…”Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
That’s the VERY BEST part. If He came once HE’S COMING AGAIN. O come, O Come Emmanuel.
This is a Christmas Carol I wrote a few years ago. This tells it all.
WHO IS THE CHILD
Who is the Child that in the manger lay?
Who is the Child asleep upon the hay?
A helpless Baby, fragile as a rose. A tiny Infant they wrapped in swaddling clothes.
Who is the Child in wisdom as He grew?
Who is the child, such favor that He knew?
A little Child the prophets had foretold. The Child whom wise men brought incense, myrrh and gold.
His name is Jesus, Jehovah’s mighty Arm the Lord of Sabbaoth is He
His name is El Shaddai and Adonai, Yahweh and the Prince of Peace
Who is the Man they nailed to a cross? Who is the Man Who knew to count the cost?
This is that Child of whom the angels sing
This is the Man He’s Jesus Christ the King!
His Name is Jesus, the Alpha and Omega, the Rock and a strong Fortress
This is Messiah and Shiloh Come and the Sun of Righteousness
Who is the Child born on that Christmas Day?
Who is the Child, the Truth, the life the way
Oh hear the trumpet sounding from on high
Behold the Man He greets you as
The KING OF KINGS and Lord of Lords, Everlasting Father, Son of God Living Word….O Hallelujah…..
Who is this Holy Bridegroom at my side?
Who is this blessed one the spotless bride?
This is your Husband, Oh New Jerusalem
Behold the Man He’s Jesus Christ the King
This Child is Jesus Christ, He is the Lord of Lords, his name is Jesus Christ, the KING!
I celebrate Christmas because Jesus forgave my sins, gave me a new life in Him, and promises eternal life with Him. He offers this hope to all and that is the reason to celebrate.
My favorite part is hearing and singing the Christmas hymns and songs that tell the Christmas story so well year after year.
My favorite part of Christmas is celebrating JESUS, knowing Jesus is alive and working all over the world in peoples lives. Knowing He is calling all who will
listen to his call – who will ask for forgiveness for their sins and turn and receive the HOPE that he offers each one of us. Sometimes we may want to give up as life seems too hard, but Jesus is their offering his hand of HOPE which he has done through the cross on Mt. Calvary. If He does that for me, I know that HE does it for others. Singing the Christmas Carols are a special joy to me and prayers for others to know him.
Footnotes for Luke 19: 41-44, read with me: “The Jewish leaders had rejected their King (19: 47). They had gone too far. They had refused God’s offer of salvation in Jesus Christ when they were visited by God himself, and soon their nation would suffer. God did not turn away from the Jewish people who obeyed him, however, and he continues to offer salvation to the people he loves, both Jews and Gentiles. Eternal life is within your reach; accept it while the opportunity is still offered.”
Christmas is a time for us to remember that God sent His only Son, so that we could all have salvation.
All so sad! But, we see God is the God of second, third, fourth, etc change if one so desires?? Do you ever just want to start over? Or, just start to find and discover the potential that God has given you? As I studied Jeremiah 18 today I thought how I need to go often to the Potter’s house.
Jeremiah 18:Msg… “God told Jeremiah, “Up on your feet! Go to the potter’s house. When you get there, I’ll tell you what I have to say.” 3-4So I went to the potter’s house, and sure enough, the potter was there, working away at his wheel. Whenever the pot the potter was working on turned out badly, as sometimes happens when you are working with clay, the potter would simply start over and use the same clay to make another pot. 5-10Then God’s Message came to me: “Can’t I do just as this potter does, people of Israel?” God’s Decree! “Watch this potter. In the same way that this potter works his clay, I work on you, people of Israel. At any moment I may decide to pull up a people or a country by the roots and get rid of them. But if they repent of their wicked lives, I will think twice and start over with them. At another time I might decide to plant a people or country, but if they don’t cooperate and won’t listen to me, I will think again and give up on the plans I had for them.
11″So, tell the people of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem my Message: ‘Danger! I’m shaping doom against you, laying plans against you. Turn back from your doomed way of life. Straighten out your lives.”
Let us start:
Salvation is by Grace through Faith in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:8-10…
Before I was redeemed by the blood of the Lamb of God and the wonder and delight of His forgiving grace….i.e. salvation, I only knew a story- book Jesus. He was an historical Figure that was in the stained glass windows of my church and on top of the altar, hanging on the crucifix behind the communion rail, or a God that only nuns and priests had any true association with. What I did learn about the lives of the saints, I mean the canonized saints, was something unattainable for the ‘common man. I guess I believed He was hanged on a cross and knew enough to bow my head when someone said His name either in prayer or in blasphemy but I didn’t know Him. I didn’t know the touchable, real, living, breathing, forgiving Son of God of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, Savior, Healer. I did not know how amazing life with Christ truly is.
It’s available to whosoever will but the footnotes to Luke 19:41-44 that Needles posted above made me think about my conversion. I was witnessed to for months and months and years by my family who had found glorious, heady, sublime salvation in Jesus Christ. Their zeal was boundless, to think that we had always been so close to the Truth but our eyes and minds and hearts had been closed to it. And now here was JESUS CHRIST offering them His love and salvation and they could no longer deny the reality of His offer of liberation and salvation and they couldn’t get enough of Him and reading the Word of God and praying and witnessing ad infinitum and I was a “victim” and a target for their divine endeavors.
And thank God that by the grace of God, the Holy Spirit, I relented my stubbornness because…as Sara quoted above….”Turn back from your doomed way of life. Straighten out your lives.” Thank God for His grace to change, to come to Christ for there is no other Name in which man can be saved. And no man comes to Christ, that is to GOD, unless the Holy Spirit draw Him.
I thank God I have been in His DRAWING ROOM.
He continues to work in my life. And Ezekiel 16 is my story. But that’s another story. Thank God for God. This Christmas is a jubilation and a glory. Jesus wants all men to be saved and to come to the saving knowledge of the HIM. Make a connection to Christ this season. You will never regret is for the rest of eternity.
“For though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again…â€(Proverbs 24:16, NIV) As a believer in Jesus Christ, we can chant, sing and pray the words of Paul found in Romans 8:11, “The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in me. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to my mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within me.”
If we stay in faith, then God will turn what was our pitfall into a second chance bus…and we can move forward in strength with faith to another win! Our misplaced priorities and unrealized potential can be a antidote to our goof up.
We must keep our focus on Emmanuel, God with us!
MG, you have written a lovely Christmas Card above. Maybe you could copy and give to all those that you are in relationship with and don’t find their way to this site.
“We must keep our focus on Emmanuel, God with us!” Sara says.
It seems to me that God graciously surrounds us so with many symbols and reminders of His care and concern for us and all at Christmas to help us with our focus if we use them as guideposts.
The red poinsettia bracts can remind us the blood of Christ is the cleansing power for our sins where underneath these bracts are leaves of green to help us believe for growth.
A greens wreath can encourage us that everlasting, eternal life awaits those who persevere and ‘stay in the faith’ as Sara writes.
And all the bright lights we see may remind us that Jesus is the Light of the world and His words, when read and heeded, light our darkness and show us the path to walk.
Thanks, Debi, for pointing out those symbols!
Ran across this this morning in Mac Lucado’s bible.
Quoting Mac Lacado’s notes in Luke under Salvation:
“The message is gripping: Show a man his failures without Jesus
and the result will be found in the roadside gutter. Give a man
religion without reminding him of his filth, and the result will be
arrogance in three-piece suit. but get the two in the same
heart–get sin to meet Savior and Savior to meet sin–and the result just might
be another Pharisee turned preacher who sets the world on fire.”
Debi & Needles, there is an old…legends are old, aren’t the? 🙂 ….that I think I learned as child in the Catholic schools that goes something like this about poinsettias. Legend of the Poinsettia. The story we were told is very similar to this Mexican legend of the poinsettia that I found on-line.
by Ranch, Paul Ecke
A charming story is told of Pepita, a poor Mexican girl who had no gift to present the Christ Child at Christmas Eve Services. As Pepita walked slowly to the chapel with her cousin Pedro, her heart was filled with sadness rather than joy.
“I am sure, Pepita, that even the most humble gift, if given in love, will be acceptable in His eyes,” said Pedro consolingly.
Not knowing what else to do, Pepita knelt by the roadside and gathered a handful of common weeds, fashioning them into a small bouquet. Looking at the scraggly bunch of weeds, she felt more saddened and embarrassed than ever by the humbleness of her offering. She fought back a tear as she entered the small village chapel.
As she approached the alter, she remembered Pedro’s kind words: “Even the most humble gift, if given in love, will be acceptable in His eyes.” She felt her spirit lift as she knelt to lay the bouquet at the foot of the nativity scene.
Thanks for the tip about the Christmas card, Sara. I will copy it and see how I can utilize it for the Kingdom
Oh…oops, I forgot the rest of the LEGEND of the poinsettia.
Suddenly, the bouquet of weeds burst into blooms of brilliant red, and all who saw them were certain that they had witnessed a Christmas miracle right before their eyes.
From that day on, the bright red flowers were known as the Flores de Noche Buena, or Flowers of the Holy Night, for they bloomed each year during the Christmas season.
Today, the common name for this plant is the poinsettia!
The blog states, ““the star they had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem”. I think the Wise Men’s example of persistent determination to keep focused on the star in order to reach their goal is an important one for us to follow. If they had become distracted or taken off chasing rabbits they would have missed their encounter with the Messiah, their Redeemer, their eternal Life.
How much more so do we need to stay focused on continuing to seek Him, look for Him and encounter Him.
Debi, your sentiments gives me the visual of ‘hitch your wagon to a star” and Rev. 2:4, “make Me your first love.”
The Magi, said, “We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.†Interesting, No one saw the star but the wise men. The shepherds in the field did not see the star, Herod did not see the star, Mary and Joseph did not see the star, but wise men saw the STAR! Do I see the Star?
Yes. You DO see the Star His name is BRIGHT AND MORNING STAR and it’s Jesus. And you see HIM!
I was just thinking….I heard a news story this evening that said that the Baby Jesus Who was stolen from a creche scene in a neighboring city has been found. The alleged “robber” snatched Him from His manger and later posted the feat on FB. I was just thinking….she can have the real thing instead of the plastic baby Jesus. And she won’t have to steal Him. But after she finds Him…tTHEN she will desire to post it on FB and all over cyber space that she has found the REAL baby Jesus and He is GOD.
Right, MG, we see the Star! We hitch our wagon to the Star. What JOY! What Peace! What an amazing ride. Better than Santa sleigh.
Yeap, so often we want the plastic and tinsel rather than the live tree, the root and the light. I am so grateful today that the Star is still within reach and shining so bright through many.
“but wise men saw the STAR! Do I see the Star?”
Maybe others could not see the star because that wasn’t their primary focus. Maybe the shephards’ priority was tending sheep; Mary’s giving birth; Joseph taking care of Mary and finding a place for her to give birth; Herod seeking jealously to eradicate anyone in competition with him.
But the Wise Men didn’t waver in their pursuit and focus. I think we are wise when we don’t either and when we want to let His Light shine and lead others to the star first and foremost.
“Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.” Daniel 12:3 NIV
I heard Dr. Keller of NYC Presbyterian Church while speaking of greed, idolatry, sin, etc…say, sin is not only the essence of doing bad things but taking good things and turning them into the ULTIMATE thing. He says, for example, we are to love our children but we are not to make our children’s happiness the meaning of our life.
Dr. Keller also has said, someone ask him if he believed hell was real? He said, yes. Then they asked if he believed the flames were literal and he said NO! I think it is worst than that!
Dear Friends of Lily, I think we should post on our nose, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow His percepts have good understanding.” Psalm 111:10
Clouds of Glory or worst than hot flames of fire! Christmas, what does it really mean to us and those around us?
Sara, what you said about posting the Word on our noses sounds interesting but is totally Biblical. Look!!
Deuteronomy 6:6-9
“And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sit in thine house, and when thou walk by the way, and when thou lie down, and when thou rise up.
And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. ”
(THAT’S WHERE OUR NOSES ARE…. BETWEEN OUR EYES)!!!
“And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.”
AND LOOK! Here is why!
“And when you have houses full of all good things, which thou filled not, and wells dug which thou did not dig, vineyards and olive trees, which thou planted not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full;
Then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.”
“Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name.
YE SHALL NOT GO AFTER OTHER gods…THE gods of the people around you. THE gods OF THE WORLD.”
15(For the LORD thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth.
Good counsel, Sara. That’s what the Lord God says.
Whatever it takes NOT to forget! We should have no excuses….probably won’t work.
Sounds from reading Dr Keller that greed and idolatry can blind and distort. In Matt 23:25 Jesus says the Pharisees are blind and that they are”full of greed and self-indulgence”. If we can’t ‘see’ things spiritually maybe the root cause is greed and/or idolatry.
Self indulgence! I think some are proud of this gift.
Yes, I think you are right and now we have the sin of pride added to the sin of self-indulgence.
And isn’t there a scripture that says: “pride goeth before destruction” or “pride happens before a fall?” The “vile” things listed in the following scripture includes this “pride”. Mark 7: 17-23 says: “Then Jesus went into a house to get away from the crowd, and his disciples asked him what he meant by the parable he had just used. ‘Don’t you understand either?’ he asked. ‘Can’t you see that the food you put into your body cannot defile you? Food doesn’t go into your heart, but only passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer.’ (By saying this, he declared that every kind of food is acceptable in God’s eyes) And then he added, ‘It is what comes from inside that defiles you. For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.”
Do you think this “self indulgence” fits into this list?
Needles, it looks like it fits into the list.
One definition of self-indulgent is “too ready to satisfy one’s own desires”. Jude vs 16 addresses this and lists these persons under the heading of false teachers: “These people are grumblers and complainers, living only to satisfy their desires. They brag loudly about themselves, and they flatter others to get what they want.”
The scripture you are asking about “pride goeth before destruction†is found in Proverbs 16:18.
Whee, mirrors all around, front, rear, side, up and down views. Seeing, we don’t see!