5 ways to honor Christ this season
By Robin Sam
WHERE would you be this Christmas?
Newspapers, lifestyle magazines and TV channels started pummeling us with the need to live the ‘good life’ long ago. Only the cry gets shriller around Christmas and New Year.
So, where would you be this Christmas? At home, in the church, in a pub, a resort, a theme park or a discotheque perhaps? What are your party plans? How much money are you blowing up for the celebrations this year? If you are still undecided on how to approach Christmas this year, you have three options before you:
1) You could continue to live a life of debauchery or
2) Keep a low profile and have a staid and careless approach to Christmas or
3) Break new ground, turn a new leaf and do something unique.
‘Like what,’ did you ask? Here’s what…
- Share the good news
It is not difficult to share the Gospel if you know the Master, the message and your audience well. The Master, Jesus Christ, is the Savior of the world. The message is simple: It’s God’s outrageous love for the mankind (John 3:16). However, for this message to make sense to your audience, you will have to begin at the beginning – the creation account as mentioned in the Bible. In India, thankfully most people don’t have trouble believing in God. Only, they need to be told that His Name is Jesus. You have to show them He is the One sent to the earth by God the Father for the redemption of the entire humanity. Of special emphasis should be the point that salvation is not by works (Ephesians 2:9; Titus 3:5; Romans 11:6) but by God’s grace (Ephesians 2:5; Titus 2:11) and faith in Jesus Christ (Acts 16:31; Romans 10:9) What better time than Christmas to share this message! Your friends will not take offense at your sharing the good news when you do it contextually – and Christmas is the context.
- Share the goodies creatively
A few years ago, it occurred to us what a great opportunity Christmas was to share not only the goodies but also the good news. As children we had been brought up to believe that sharing our Christmas cakes and other delicacies is a reciprocation of the generosity of our neighbors who shared Diwali or Ramzan goodies with us. If we are using Christmas as a time to return the favor we are wasting a great opportunity. If you have been in the habit of sending your children to others’ homes with Christmas goodies, think out of the box this year. Why don’t you visit those neighbors as a family, exchange greetings with them and pray for them even as you share the plum cakes with them? If you are unable to do that, gift them a good book or a gospel film DVD that talks about Christ’s love along with cakes and sweets. Isaiah 52:7 says: ‘How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!’
- Share a meal with a stranger
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus came up with several showstoppers. The people were baffled. He was talking of hitherto unheard of things. He was bucking the popular trend of those days (Hmmm… things haven’t changed much since then). He was asking people to do seemingly impossible things. One of them is found in Matthew 5:46: ‘For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?’ In essence what Jesus was saying is this: Go beyond the brief. Do the unusual and the unexpected. Buck the trend. This Christmas invite for lunch someone with whom you share a lukewarm relationship. Call for dinner that friend who thinks you have become too busy for him/her. Or better still, share a meal with perfect strangers. Go to an old age home, an orphanage, or a destitute centre. Take your children along. Show them what the other half of the world looks like. That will make them (and you) to be thankful to God for the blessings that He has bestowed. James 1:27 gives us a peek into what God considers as pure and undefiled religion. While one of them is to keep ourselves unspotted from the world, the other is to identify ourselves with the underdogs and share in their affliction. Sure enough, it should not be just a once-in-a-year routine; but it has to begin somewhere. Why not start doing it this Christmas?
- Step into unchartered territory
When Jesus and His disciples accepted an invitation to a wedding at Cana in Galilee, the occasion became the launch pad for many of His miraculous signs that were to follow. But He did not stand on ceremonies and insist on being invited before He would go. He invited Himself to Zacchaeus’ home (Luke 19:5). Although people around Him sniggered at Him for being the guest of a sinner, Jesus knew salvation had to come to the house that day (Luke 19:9). When the Jews in those days would not so much as pass by a Samaritan street, Jesus deliberately went into a town occupied by the Samaritans because He knew through that one woman He would encounter there, many would come to trust in Him (John 4:39). He stopped even on the way to the Calvary to talk to the women who were wailing for Him and warn them of the impending danger that was awaiting Jerusalem. We have a similar task today. These are the end times. We need to tell anyone who cares to listen that time is too short indeed and that today is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2). Make a resolve to do something for the Lord that you have not done yet – perhaps it could be distributing tracts, engaging yourself in personal evangelism, going on the knees for intercessory prayer or even volunteering to be an usher at your church. Whatever it is, decide to do something for God this Christmas.
- Slow down and reflect on your own life
The time of Christmas is so strategically placed in the calendar that we cannot but think of the year coming to a close. Christmas is not just about the birth of Jesus Christ. It has also to do with time running out. The millennial clock that started ticking at the time of His birth also reiterates the prophecies concerning His Second Coming. A shiver runs down my spine every time I care to reverentially read Matthew 24:36. It says: ‘But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.’ The same warning is also mentioned in Mark 13:32. Matthew 24:44 says: ‘Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.’ Luke 12:40 has a similar verse. Are we ready for His return? 1 Peter 4:17 has an even more chilling warning about the judgment that awaits us all: that it will begin at the ‘House of God’. Is everything in our lives in order? We may not have the time to sweep anything under the carpet at His arrival. Even otherwise, it would be a futile exercise because God knows even our thoughts. So, what are we supposed to do? If you have accepted Jesus as your Savior, renew your commitment to God. 1 Corinthians 10:12 offers us a practical guideline: ‘Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.’ Stand on the Rock that will not let you trip or stumble. No matter what our circumstances are, we are advised by the Lord Himself about our conduct in the last days. Revelation 22:11 says: ‘…he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.’ Christmas tells us our Lord is coming soon. Are we ready to meet Him? Maranatha! Amen.
Related features: Franklin Graham’s Christmas message | P G Vargis’ Christmas message| Editor’s Message
Robin Sam is the founding editor of The Christian Messenger newspaper. A journalist with over 16 years of experience, he has worked with The Indian Express, Sify.com and Yahoo! besides several other publications. He quit his job in 2008 to get into full-time media ministry. You can contact him at editor [at] christianmessenger [dot] in
