The songs say, "We need Christmas." Why? For peace and love. For warm feelings. For bringing everyone together. For the lights and the gifts and the decorations. To all of that I say, "Piffle!" But ... not to "We need Christmas." That we do need. Here's why.
We need a God Incarnate (John 1:14) to save us (Luke 19:10). He had to be a human like us, but He had to be deity to save more than one. We need a Savior (Luke 2:11), born of a virgin (Matt 1:23), because Scripture says that sin comes through Adam (Rom 5:12), so we need a Savior who was not fathered by a human male. We need Immanuel - God with us (Matt 1:23). He is, after all, the point of everything, and we desperately need to be connected to Him. We need a sacrifice (Heb 9:26), a Redeemer (Matt 20:28) who will take our place and bring peace, not merely between men, but between sinful man and a holy God -- reconciliation (Rom 5:1-11). We need the humility of the Son of God who became flesh (Php 2:5-8), experienced our trials and temptation -- a High Priest who was tempted as we are yet without sin (Heb 4:15). We need the promises fulfilled and the certainty of the outcome because of it.
We need Christmas. Christmas is a look back at the promises, the hundreds of prophecies of the Messiah, starting from Genesis 3 on into the Advent -- promises fulfilled at Christmas. Christmas is a look forward at the now-certainty that Immanuel is come, that salvation is at hand, that God wins and the future is bright for all who believe. So we give gifts to remember His inexpressible gift (2 Cor 9:15) and we string lights because He is the light of the world (John 8:12). Evergreen trees can remind us of the eternal life that Jesus brings (John 3:16). Christmas represents all of our hope in God and the Christmas celebrations provide a reminder of that hope and our need to celebrate Him, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, born back then in humble estate to live a sinless life, die for our sin, and rise again to new life so we can, too. Oh, yes, we really, really need Christmas. Christmas is a singularity, a completely unique point in all of human history, and marks the beginning of the fruition of God's plan for salvation for all who follow ... and all who came before. We need Christmas. And all that "peace and love" and "warm feelings" and "gathering together" is nice, too.
10 comments:
Amen. We need the real Christmas, and the real Christ, 365 days a year.
I think Christmas is much like Easter in that it is something we need to be celebrating much more often than once a year, dare I say daily?
“Piffle!” Is that like “bah humbug!”? :)
Piffle is a sort of "I don't think so," a "that's silly." Or so.
(Since words are my thing, the actual definition of "piffle" is "nonsense.")
Personally, I can live without the highly commercialized and secularized nature of the “Christmas holiday” but certainly not the event that December 25th is meant to mark. I absolutely needed the Savior to come to earth--specifically to live a perfect life, to die a substitutionary death, and to be gloriously raised again by the Father. Because of these events, I was then able to personally receive the Holy Spirit, a new heart, forgiveness of sins, and eternal life. For me, this is a 24/7, 365-days-a-year, every-waking-moment reality--not contained to one day or one month or one season. All too often at this time of the year, the proclamation of the Savior’s coming ends with Baby Jesus in the manger (or perhaps with the visits by the Magi)--i.e. “the Christmas story”--and fails to proceed to the rest of the Good News. Since I know that my salvation was gained through the entire sequence of Christ’s birth, life, death, and resurrection, I strive to be mindful of the full Gospel every day of the year (not favoring any particular calendar day over another). I appreciate that you presented the full story here today.
So "piffle" is another form of "bah humbug," indeed, as I gathered from the context. Thanks for expanding my vocabulary--that might become my new go-to retort! :)
I like the word "piffle" my mom use to say that all the time!
I wonder if it is of German origin because my wife's family says it too.
Hey David, from the oxford dictionary.
OED's earliest evidence for piffle is from 1847, in the writing of James Halliwell, antiquary and literary scholar. Looks like James was a Shakespearean writer. Seems like the word shows unknown origin. I watched an old movie from the 30's and they were using it quite often. Not so much anymore.
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