JESUS IS THE ONLY REASON FOR CHRISTMAS SEASON

JESUS - THE ONLY REASON FOR CHRISTMAS SEASON

THE MOST POPULAR WAY TO CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS AROUND THE WORLD:

Christmas is celebrated in over 160 countries.  Most countries either officially observe Christmas as a national holiday or tolerate its observation by its citizens.

A few countries oppose any observation of Christmas but are still faithful Christians in those countries who observe Christmas in some way.

Below is a map of the world showing those countries that do not observe Christmas.  Those countries are:

Mauritania               Turkey                       Afghanistan                         Thailand

Morocco                   Azerbaijan                Turkmenistan                      Bhutan

Algeria                       Iran                            Uzbekistan                           North Korea

Tunisia                       Saudi Arabia            Kyrgyzstan

Libya                          Yemen                       Vietnam

Benin                         Omen                        Cambodia

Map_of_Countries_that_do_not_recognize_Christmas_as_Public_Holiday

Even though Christmas is observed in most of the world, only 32% of the world identifies as Christian.  That means millions of people observe Christmas without identifying themselves as Christian.  In fact, many even in countries that officially observe Christmas as a national holiday do not identify themselves as Christian.

SO HOW DO MOST PEOPLE IN MOST COUNTRIES CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS?

Christmas generally means festive lights on homes and buildings, on evergreen trees.  Festive and colorful dress, parties with special foods and treats.  The center person represented is “Santa Claus”.    His appearance and name vary but is commonly dressed as an elderly man with a long white beard dressed in red clothes with white fur.

The history of Santa Claus varies but most older versions link to a real person named Nicholas who lived in mid-300’s AD.  Nicholas was born to a wealthy family in Patara, Lycia (present day Turkey). His parents died, and he inherited a considerable sum of money, but he kept none of it and become a priest. In the most famous story about his life, he threw bags of gold through the windows of three girls about to be sold as slaves by their family into prostitution. Nicholas was known as a generous priest and bishop.  Over the years his appearance and function changed into a character who once a year delivers gifts to children around the world.  It is worth noting that during the reformation, Martin Luther replaced the focus on the “bearer of gifts for children” with focus on the “Christ child”.

However, today’s focus during Christmas season is on buying and giving gifts to friends and loved ones and Santa Claus is the one person, especially with children, credited with giving those gifts.

But the decorations, presence of someone dressed as Santa Claus, singing and hearing Christmas songs do bring a more festive and happy and joyous atmosphere and common attitudes.  People tend to become friendlier to each other, wishing each other a Merry Christmas or Happy Holiday.   Christmas cards are commonly sent to friends and relatives less frequently visited during rest of the year.

Other common practices are family parties and festive meals.  Parties at places of employment or in communities are also more common.   Methods and practices and details vary but the common theme is good will to others and cheerier dispositions but focus is on enjoying ourselves instead of honoring and pleasing the One who’s birthday this holiday celebrates.

Noteworthy is, December 25 was originally a pagan Roman holiday and was changed to observe Christ’s birthday when Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity in the Roman Empire.

HOW DID THE PURITANS, WHO CAME TO THE AMERICAN COLONIES, CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS?

The interesting fact is Puritans were very devout but didn’t observe “Christmas” because it was a “catholic” holiday and because Christmas was not established in scripture by the early church.  They preferred to celebrate the sabbath.

MEANINGFUL – MEMORABLE WAYS OF CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS?

Let’s reflect on personal fond Christmas memories and reasons they are remembered fondly:

  • Selecting a Christmas tree and bringing it home and decorating it and home together as a family.
  • Worshipping together as a family on Christmas eve and reading together on Christmas eve the story of Christ’s birth from Luke 2 as a family
  • Excitement of opening gifts as a child and family meal on Christmas day.
  • Christmas caroling to shut-ins and elderly in community.
  • Providing a Christmas meal to shut-in and poor families in community by church family.
  • Enjoying a congregational meal together as a church family in church basement during advent season and singing Christmas carols afterwards.
  • Practicing in a Christmas cantata and presenting in community during Advent Season.
  • Packing care packages for poor in community, packing “shoe boxes” for Samaritan’s Purse child gifts in impoverished countries or similar outreach programs to provide gifts to poor children and families.
  • Volunteer with local food pantries and special distributions they sponsor during holidays, especially during Christmas.

Above are some of the memories I have from my youth, memories I shared with my parents and memories as we raised our children.  I invite and encourage you to take some time to reflect on fond memories you have from your past Christmas’s and the impact those memories have had on you as well as impact of those who shared them with you.

HOW DOES CHRIST WANT US TO CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS – HIS BIRTHDAY?

So what traditions should we continue or bring back and which ones should we discontinue or give lower priority?

  • Should we continue giving Christmas gifts but at a more modest level, reserve more time and money giving to those in need?
  • Should we use more time worshipping and fellowshipping with Christ?
  • Should we look for ways to remember and telling others “Christ is the reason for this Advent Season”?
  • ENDURE A HARDSHIP OR PHYSICAL ILLNESS OR LOSS, AS JOB DID, BUT REMAIN FAITHFUL AND GRATEFUL PRAISING HIM IN THE MIDST OF SUFFERING?

I BELIEVE THE ANSWER TO THIS QUESTIONS NEEDS ASKED DIRECTLY TO CHRIST.  WHAT DOES HE WISH TO RECEIVE AS OUR GIFT TO HIM THIS CHRISTMAS?  The answer may vary for each of us, but the common requirement is for each of us to surrender to His Will and give Him our full attention and praise and love and TIME.  In order to do that, we will need to let go of some other things on our to do list.  It will also mean changing the priority of where we spend our money as well as time.

Our pastor is spending her free time in a hospital 80 miles from home visiting her son recovering from a virus that nearly took his life and a heart surgery to replace a valve damaged by the virus but a surgery that revealed a heart defect that was about to hemorrhage that would have also been fatal.

My wife’s sister is spending her free time in that same hospital 90 miles from her home visiting her son who had a stroke and nearly died too but is recovering too.

A good friend is spending his free time visiting a failing step father about to be transferred from the hospital to a convalescent home.

Do these experiences cheat us of a joyful Christmas, or do they draw us closer to Christ, who came and endured and sacrificed so we can come to Him not only for forgiveness but for eternal life and a personal relationship with our creator?

We intend to spend some time this Advent with some of these folks and trust you   will with some you know going through difficult times too while still finding some time to spend Christmas with family WHILE STILL GIVING HIM PRAISE AND WORSHIP AND HEARTFEALT THANKS FOR ALL HE HAS DONE AND CONTINUES TO DO.

WHAT CHRIST REALLY WANTS FROM YOU AND ME THIS CHRISTMAS IS YOU AND ME.  HE WANTS A CLOSER RELATIONSHIP WITH YOU AND ME AND WANTS US TO SHARE THAT GOOD NEWS WITH OTHERS.

 

Published by donsdevotions

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Don McDaniel - Who am I? Hello everyone and welcome to my devotional journal blog. In order to get acquainted and help you get to know me a bit better before considering following my blog, let me give you some background. I am a 74-year-old male and a retired engineer. I worked for a major supplier of underground mining equipment for nearly 40 years before retiring in 2012. Arlene and I have been happily married since April 1978 and have two grown – married children, one granddaughter and 2 step grandsons. I joined the local United Methodist church at age 12 after accepting Christ as my Savior at age 10 during revival services in that same church in 1961, so I have been a “Born Again” Christian all my teen years and adult life. Christ has helped and guided me all that time. He guided me in choosing my wife and life’s career. My life journey has included regrets and failures, but God has picked me up and protected and spared me from life threatening consequences and dangers more times than I can recall or count. But many I do recall and encourage and motivate me to trust and follow Christ with more passion than ever. Christmas 2011 our daughter gave Arlene and I each a devotional journal. Journals were books with devotion for each day and space to give personal impressions and thoughts related to each devotion. Her desire was to have a lasting legacy she could refer back to and share with her children and grandchildren especially after we are gone. I was touched by that gesture. My parents and Arlene’s were devout Christians, so we would have greatly treasured having that from them, so we felt a sense of urgency to honor her request. I finished my journal first and returned it to our daughter the following Christmas. I’m glad I did it then because Parkinson’s has caused my hand writing to deteriorate since then. The exercise was such a blessing for me. Discipline of keeping journal helped me gain a deeper walk with Christ and greater discipline in honoring my time of prayer and devotion with Him each day. So, I decided to continue the practice but since I could not find a paper journal I liked, I decided to create my own. I had already been receiving electronic devotions by email every day from several sources, my favorite being “Turning Point” from Dr. David Jeremiah. What I decided to do was to include devotional scripture but add my own thoughts and comments only so there would be no issue of copyright infringement. Creating and maintaining journal by computer also addressed my deteriorating handwriting ability. I started an electronic devotion journal January 1, 2013 and have been faithful to that practice every day since. I prayed about method and level of distribution. My initial intent was to only share it with my two children by email, but quickly discovered others in my family, my church, and friends from work (both retired and still working) who knew me and wanted to be included in distribution when they learned what I was doing. I now distribute by email my daily journal at the beginning of each month to over 150 friends and relatives. God has richly blessed and encouraged me. I am concerned with the state of our church and nation, and world for that matter, believing we are living in the end times the prophets of old and Christ have talked about in scripture, so time is short. I desire to be true to my Savior and a witness to help others come to a saving knowledge of Him and equipped to share His Good News too. If my journal can encourage and help others, I believe God wants me to share it. I struggled, for a time at first, because I know many others keep similar journals but only for their own edification and do not want to share them because they are private. However, Christ has stirred my heart to share it as a witness tool. Our son and daughter have a long-time friend who grew up with them who we also befriended nearly 25 years ago. He had a lot of family problems, so would gravitate to our family as a refuge and eventually thought of us as his adopted parents and he as our adopted son. We lost contact with him for some time when he grew up and left home. He traveled around the U.S. and eventually ended up in Ukraine where he resided for next 10 years. He had to return to the US to renew his visa and took opportunity to recommend I begin a blog of my devotions and helped me set it up. He is also an active blogger and has been an email subscriber to my journal for several months, so he has been suggesting I expand my distribution by starting a blog to get broader exposure. After reflection and prayer, I concluded God was in this, so he is helping me set up my blog site. This brief autobiography is my first entry. He returned to Ukraine, then resided there until circumstanced made him decide to move back to US with his young son. This biography was my first post February 29, 2016 . I have published 600 posts from 2016-2023 automatically sent to all my Facebook friends, published on WordPress to be accessible to anyone curious or seeking a deeper walk with God. I decided to take a sebatical to prepare for a new chapter. In 2014 I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease which affects patient ability to walk, drive, do physical work, and eventually talk. By mid 2023 it became evident our home for last 42 years (previously owned by my parents for previous 44 years and by my mother's grandparents for 39 years before that) would eventually not meet my needs so we decided to sell it and move into 1st floor of a duplex we also owned that was the town school from 1855-1913. Likewise, the property was requiring more maintenance that I was no longer able to keep up with. 2023 involved selling our home and moving into apartment next door and then in early 2025 an opportunity to move closer to our daughter and granddaughter in Kentucky which was completed in May 2025. For a number of months I have been seeking direction seeking God's direction and timing to return to blogging as my journey with Parkinson's continues to unfold with God's guiding hand in mine. I hope and pray my devotions will continue to be a blessing for you. God certainly has become closer and more real to me since started this blog in 2016. I have spent time with Him studying scripture and praying and listening and writing this journal. I will continue seeking God’s help and will welcome your input to make this site as meaningful as I can and true to God, who is motivating me to create and maintain it. I will also welcome input in order to make format more meaningful going forward. Don & Arlene McDaniel In His Service, Email: mcdanieldonald769@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Don1951 If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 600+ blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present (https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com/2016/03/02/link-to-dons-devotional-journal-entries-2013/ ) You may also access my Facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily. My Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Dondevotionals/ Many thanks to a pastor and dear brother in Christ in Nepal who set up the above Facebook page to help and encourage and give opportunity for more to explore and use my devotional blog materials.

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