We have entered that season anything is done and for some, experimented on. It is the time of the year when good is at its peak and evil is also at its summit.
The Easter and Christmas holidays are arguably the two peaks in the calendar where anything and everything can happen. Some people become so religious and others spiritual.
It is the time when we experience so much carnage on the roads even seas and air. Some retreat to the rural areas to brew traditional beer to thank ancestors for looking after them throughout the year.
With liquidity having increased, many goods and services become affordable. More beers are now within reach and so are the servives of the women of the night.
A trip to a holiday resort with a married woman or a girlfriend becomes affordable at the expense of new clothes for the family or fees for the children.
Teenagers are experimenting on sex, beer and drugs. Many unwanted pregnancies arise so is contraction of HIV. A trip to the witchdoctor becomes feasable and the money to buy the sheep, goats and cattle for appeasement is available.
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In this instalment I don’t seek to do a thesis on the theology of Christmas. My issue is not to look at whether Jesus was born on 25 December or October or any other date but how we honour the man that was born to save and serve humanity. Do we do evil or good to celebrate the meaning of the life of Christ?
What do you suppose the Son of Man would celebrate His birthday if he was still physically on this earth? Would he do any of what you have planned or he would do good in fulfilment of Acts 10:38, “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him?”
The essence of Christ is a gift to humanity to recover that which was lost and to have more of Him as in John 12:24, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” If God remained in heaven without dieing in the form of Christ, there was going to be no way of having saved souls on His side.
The principle of having more is to give not to receive and the scales of blessing are tilted more in favour of the giver than the receiver. Acts 20:35 supports this, “I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
Doing good is not seasonal neither is giving and sowing limited by seasons. Acts of goodness are perennial.
Always pray and look for an opportunity to give and help someone. Don’t wait for Christmas to appear religious or spiritual, let it be a daily thing.
My custom is not to skip a day without materially and financially helping someone I don’t know and when I receive anything I don’t just take it for myself but ask God if it is not for someone less advantaged. Some of you are holding on to stuff that is meant for someone in the middle of the Kalahari Desert.
The Bible and our culture teach us to exist beyond ourselves. We live to be of use to our neighbour. There are people that are so mean that their income does not go beyond the needs of their immediate families.
When you give let it not be a show otherwise you get no return from God according to Matthew 6:1 – 4, “Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.”
So whatever you have planned for this season, do it with Christ in mind. At the consummation of time, let God say this of you, Matthew 25:34 – 36, “Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.”
All Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible.
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