Christmas is getting nearer … nearer … the holiday that all we Christians and many others, too, in this world, look forward to most, each year.
And this world is in a god-awful mess. Not just the United States, but the whole planet. The virus keeps spreading, and multiplying; the world governments keep imposing more and more restrictions on the populations, supposedly to stop the spread of corona, but, in many minds, actually to tighten their grip on their people. Russia seems poised to invade Ukraine; China, to seize and take back Taiwan. The weak, indecisive president of the United States probably would do nothing to stop them. Believers in the “destruction of the world” are announcing that we have only a few years left — if that many.
And deliberate murders of innocent people — by gun, knife, or whatever is guaranteed to do the job — are increasing by leaps and bounds, in many world areas, especially the United States. Sometimes committed by national governments, and sometimes by people with no particular beliefs in anything except doing whatever will benefit them, and no concerns about the rights, including the right to life, of others.
AND, IN THE last few months, smash and grab thefts of huge amounts of merchandise from many U.S. stores, mostly in large cities, have offered more proof that the underworld of our society is now convinced that it can get away with anything it wants to.
And finally, as the greatest Holiday of all approaches, vandals in several of our largest cities have set fire to huge, beautiful public Christmas trees, and destroyed them or damaged them beyond repair!
Of course, such behavior as I’ve described above violates the Ten Commandments, one of the main rocks on which the Christian religion (and the Jewish one, also) is built. And the Man who is the rock around which Christianity revolves, is, of course, Jesus Christ, whose birthday is the reason for the world’s many Christmas celebrations.
As all branches of Christianity agree, Jesus, as the Son of God, chose to submit to crucifixion in order to save the souls of all in His era, and until the end of time, if they accepted His status. Two thousand years later, Christianity is the religion with more believers than any other, which tells us how many hundreds of millions have respected Christ’s sacrifice on their behalf. It has resulted, among many other things, in the writing and performing of some of the most beautiful music in history.
AND THOSE HUNDREDS of millions have many, many ways of celebrating Christmas, the Birth of the Savior. They vary from denomination and country, to many others. But they are all aimed at the same goal: Remembering and honoring the Savior.
And, as horrible as the condition of our world is right now, Christmas has been for many centuries the time of the year when people get “nicer,” kinder, more generous; when, for a short time, at least, the world’s population acts more like Our Father in Heaven, and his Son the Savior, probably would prefer that they act all the year round.
Has this world not gone through other horrible times as Christmas neared in the past 2,000 years? Of course it has. But with modern “technology,” which is not always a good thing; “global warming”; and many other factors which were not present in past centuries, many of us feel that the “end of days” might be closer now than it ever has been before.
I DON’T PRESUME to say I have come up with a “solution” to all this. But perhaps, as we enjoy the Christmas season, we could pray that God would allow His Son to somehow return to our midst, and bring our world back to what he intended by giving His own life, to redeem ours.
Merry Christmas, my friends, and remember that it is much more than just a “fun” holiday. Maybe this year, the Man who gave His life for us, will give us a huge surprise.
