Christmas Day commemorates God's opening salvo in a cosmic battle to redeem the world. Christians all around the world stop what they are doing to celebrate this event through worship. A large number share in corporate worship in Churches all around the world.
On this Christmas Day of 2020, it is worth pausing to ask how many of those Christians, who were baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, are willing to truly receive the Savior of the world, considering what He requires?
And how many of those Churches holding grand Christmas services would openly welcome this Savior considering what He requires?
It is safe to say that those Christians and those Churches who have embraced and preach the new Gospel of Affirmation, would not be so welcoming of that Savior. Which is okay, because on the flip side, those who embrace this novel Gospel cannot have the true nature of God perfected in their souls
Very plainly, we cannot truly embrace the new life offered to us in Christ for reconciliation to God, if we are not willing to die to our old life and be born anew. We can say all the right words, we can make all the right actions, and we can put on a convincing display of Christianity, but the reality is, it is not ours. We have not allowed it to blossom in us, and so it doesn't.
Nowhere has this reality of Christian conversion been more visible than it has been in the year 2020. In this year of the Corona Virus, we have witnessed the emergence of great fear, with the flames of this fear being vigorously fanned by Government and the sycophant media. And while on the surface this appears to be a fear of the virus, it is in fact a paralyzing fear of something far deeper, the fear of death.
And what is so remarkable about this paralyzing fear of death, is that the paralysis seems to be almost as pervasive in the global Christian community as it is in the global secular community.
And if this observation is true [and it seems to be], then this observation leads to the conclusion that the Christian community in general, and the Churches of Christianity in particular, have fallen prey to a massive failure in faith.
This failure of faith does not mean that we cannot be apprehensive of death, or that we should not take proper precautions to forestall our death. But where this failure of faith becomes unavoidably apparent is when we are ready to forsake everything, as in EVERYTHING, including our faith, in order to avoid death.
Churches have prostrated themselves to the edicts of Government to shutdown. Christians have hustled to obey Government edicts to not corporately worship. Christians have shunned and berated other Christians who continue to corporately worship.
Sir Thomas More, who served as Chancellor in the Church of England during Henry VIII's reign, wrote a Book called The Four Last Things in which he opined that although we are all destined to die, and we are dying daily, yet we will comport our selves to all kinds of sinful behavior to make the most of those days of life.
And so in 2020, we will comport ourselves to eschew everything to avoid the Spector of death. And what seems so supremely sad in all this, is that the Virus of 2020 appears to have a rate of mortality which is miniscule compared to some of the plagues which have ravaged mankind over the ages.. This massive response of fear to a seemingly nasty but not tragic virus, disappointedly points to the magnitude of this loss of faith.
So, on this Christmas Day of 2020 where we worship the birth of the Christ child, the One who will be the Savior of all who believe in Him, I ask you to commit to reading the Gospels, to inwardly digesting them, to renew your spirits, to embrace again your new life in Christ, and live a life of true faith where the evils of this world have no claim on you and your soul. All this I pray in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Commentaires