Home | Holidays
The streets are busy, the malls are full, and everyone's making plans. The most common question you hear this season is: "Are you ready for Christmas?" How do we respond? Are we truly ready for Christmas? Dictionary.com (Unabridged) defines Christmas as "the annual festival of the Christian church commemorating the birth of Jesus: celebrated on December 25." The American Heritage Dictionary defines Christmas as "A Christian feast commemorating the birth of Jesus; December 25, the day on which this feast is celebrated." The Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary (Beta Version) defines Christmas as "a Christian feast commemorating the birth of Jesus; a Christian holiday celebrating the birth of Christ." American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition defines Christmas as "a festival commemorating the birth of Jesus, traditionally celebrated on December 25 by most Western Christian churches. Although dating to probably as early as a.d. 200, the feast of Christmas did not become widespread until the Middle Ages." The simple question, "Are you ready for Christmas" is an open door to share the good news of the saving grace of Jesus Christ. It may not be "politically correct" but it certainly is spiritually pertinent—not to some, not only to Christians, but to all mankind. How ready are we to celebrate the birth of Jesus? How would Jesus have us celebrate His birth? We all know the commercialism of Christmas has gotten way out of hand. People nearly bankrupt themselves each year in order to provide gifts and host parties and such during the Christmas season. But is that what Jesus really wants? It seems to me when we celebrate someone's birthday, we should be designing the celebration to please the One whose birthday we celebrate. What would be the best gift we could possibly give Him? There's a song I remember from my childhood that seems to answer this question in a simple way:
Article Source: http://christian-topics.info
Jan Ross is well-known as an author of Christian devotional material and short stories. She also travels as a missionary which is often reflected in her writing. She lives with her husband, Ron, in Willard, Ohio and can be contacted at contact@janross.org
Please Rate this Article
5 out of 54 out of 53 out of 52 out of 51 out of 5
# of Ratings = 1 | Rating = 5/5
