Another Way Of Leaving GOD Out

A new coin came out this month The U.S. Mint hopes the redesigned $1 coin will win acceptance with consumers. It does not have In God We Trust on it. Another way of leaving God out. Send this on and let consumers decide if it will win acceptance or not.

Listen to Glenn Beck read the Story of Christmas

Listen to Glenn Beck read the Story of Christmas

Love came down at Christmas,
Love all lovely, Love Divine;
Love was born at Christmas;
Star and angels gave the sign.
~Christina Rossetti

David at Third World County gives his thought on a wonderful Christmas song, The Gift of Gifts and with a tip of the cap to Humphrey Bogart, he plays it again, Sam with his song, “The Gift” These wonderful links came to us through Adams Blog

Christmas is a lot like fruitcake

Christmas is a lot like fruitcake - and fruitcake can teach us a lot about Christmas.

Let’s start with the obvious (and the honest):

Fruitcake isn’t the most attractive offering on the Christmas table. In fact, most people consider it better suited to paperweight-or-doorstop duty than its originally intended function (Dessert, people. Not trebuchet fodder.).

Fruitcake is dense and lumpy and often hard to swallow. It’s got strange things inside, some of which take time (and bravery) to identify.

Fruitcake lasts a virtual eternity, somehow managing to avoid spoiling and going stale (some say because it started that way, but let’s move on and leave that be). Properly made and properly preserved, the life of a fruitcake is measured in years - forever, when compared to the lifespan of other holiday treats.

And yet, few people like it and fewer still welcome it as a holiday gift.

Just like Christmas.

Jesus Christ didn’t come to earth as the most powerful (or likely, the most attractive) of men. Born in a manger, not a palace, and saluted by shepherds instead of minstrels, the birth that someday would be celebrated around the world was, at the time, a humble one. He grew up a carpenter, not a prince, wearing average clothes and eating average food. To look at Him, the average person might have considered him better suited to hammer than to rule. (Yes, pun intended. Move on.)

His teachings? Dense and more than a little difficult to swallow. He spoke in parables so many would not understand - at least, not without a genuine desire to follow Him. His way - and that of His father - is not for those seeking a simple, leisurely path. Determining His will for an individual life requires time, fortitude and effort - to say nothing of bravery.

God promises Christ’s kingdom is eternal, lasting far beyond even a fruitcake, and open to all who seek it. Like the fruitcake, some claim it started spoiled and stale - intolerant of those who refuse to acknowledge Christ as Lord, demanding sacrifice at the cost of unfettered “freedom” to satisfy personal desires and fundamentally less attractive than the sweeter offerings of a secular, Godless worldview.

They do not welcome Jesus - as they do not welcome fruitcake. They claim Christmas - and all its attendant celebrations, bells and whistles (yes, even tinsel) - has gone “commercial” - has gone stale.

They completely miss the point.

It is easy for the secular mind to dismiss Christmas, like fruitcake, as the jumbled inedible creation of a warped and distorted mind. To one without faith, Jesus’ appearance on the earth represents one more false prophet crying out in search of power, His teachings difficult to understand and impossible to realisitically implement in daily life. His eternal kingdom, not visible to the naked eye, defies secular logic - how can anything be preserved beyond time, resurrected after death? All things spoil. All things end.

And yet, to the one with eyes to see, Christmas never gets old or stale. Each element - from Jesus’ birth, foretold and heralded by angels, to the great gift of His teachings, life and ultimate sacrifice for our salvation, becomes something to be treasured, appreciated and shared. The secular trappings of the holy day provide a mechanism through which we express our joy that He is born (and dead, and risen again) and we are saved.

For the mind truly seeking after Christ, His teachings become increasingly easy to follow (though never a “piece of cake” - fruit or any other kind). The mind and heart trained to love and seek the will of God recognizes the difficult bits as treasured opportunities for physical and spiritual growth - though (like those fruitcake lumps) they don’t always form the best or most-appreciated portions of our spiritual walk. On the other hand, the Christian walk also contains the “tasty bits” - the unexpected joys and blessings which come without warning and demonstate the LORD’s favor and presence in our lives. Good and not-so-good, mixed together in a manner that, if not always tasty, is at least never dull.

Properly prepared and properly cared for, the Christian heart never ceases to love the LORD or to celebrate His birth, His resurrection and His presence in our lives. At Christmas, the Christian’s heart literally runneth over with joy, if permitted to recognize and appreciate the great and wonderful gift God granted each and every one of us on the day of Jesus’ birth. A joy - and a gift - which lasts forever, never fading, spoiling or going stale.

And if that makes me a fruitcake, then Merry Christmas, fruitcake.

Linked to the Christmas Alliance HQ Homepage (and submitted to the Carnival of Christmas)
Filed under: Holyday Yaks, Faith Yak, Christmas Alliance — Random Yak @ 1:57 pm on December 20, 2006