Do You Hear What I Hear?

     And do you see what I see?
     I was working  the week before Christmas, and we had on a local radio station which, along with many others across the United States, began playing Christmas songs only, around the end of November. At some point during the workday I realized I was being driven insane by the constant barrage of worn out holiday tunes. The station we were listening to was running some sort of promotion where every time Paul McCartney's "A Wonderful Christmas Time" was played someone had a chance to win a prize. The station played this song once every hour, and along with John Lennon's "Merry Xmas; War is Over," Bruce Springsteen's "Santa Claus is Coming To Town," and Band Aids "Do They Know its Christmas?" I was ready to sharpen the ends of my paintbrushes and insert them into my ears until they met in the middle of my head.
     And the commercials. Car dealers, jewelers, supermarkets, wine stores...all so full of holiday cheer! "C'mon down and buy a new BMW for Christmas!" The commercial besiege that took place this Christmas season seemed earlier and more pervasive. And of course, most distressing was the fact that what I was seeing and hearing had little if anything to do with the birth of Jesus Christ. Yeah, I know and understand why this is. Radio stations and car dealerships have not been given the command to preach the gospel. They exist to sell products.
     It just seems to me that with each passing year, the noise is elevated that drowns out the simple yet profound message of Gods love for His creation, and the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season becomes faster and rougher and its frantic pace overwhelms Gods silent night. Charles Shultz was ahead of his time in writing "A Charlie Brown Christmas." In that cartoon the Peanuts gang is running around helter skelter in an attempt to produce a Christmas play. In the middle of all the mayhem Charlie Brown exasperates, "Can anyone tell me what Christmas is all about?" It is at this point that Linus reads directly from Luke 2:8-14.
     Where is Linus when you need him? The truth is, if you are a believer, you can and should be a light to a dark and dying world. In the midst of Christmas chaos you can bring glad tidings of great joy. People need to hear the good news. They experience the stress that this time of year always seems to bring, and I am sure wonder why it is so. They know something is missing, that Christmas shouldn't be all about food, decorations and running up credit cards. They want to know the joy and peace that Christmas cards talk about.
     For four years now Bill Posey and I have had the opportunity to broadcast on blogradio on Christmas morning. The heart of those broadcasts, as it is with all of our other programs, is the gospel. This year Bill, speaking from Daniel 7:13,14, impressed upon our audience the need to not only look back and reflect upon the miraculous birth of Jesus Christ, but to now look forward to His imminent return, this time not as a babe in a feeding trough, but the glorified Son of God whose kingdom is one that will never be destroyed!
     I felt the need to speak a sober warning, that contrary to popular belief and Christmas greeting cards, Jesus did not come to bring peace on the earth (Matt 10:32-36). And Linus left out the critical ending of vs. 14 in Luke..."Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests." (see also Luke 4:18,19 and 2 Corinthians 5:16-6:2)
     Again, I am well aware that Christmas, as well as Easter, has been hijacked for commercial profit. And I am not planning a crusade to re-establish Christmas to its wonderful roots. But I wonder just how far away our culture will withdraw Christmas from the birth of Jesus Christ, and how believers will respond. The world is sinking deeper into darkness and depravity. The only hope for them is the finished work of redemption by Jesus Christ on the cross. With each Christmas you get bits and pieces (albeit smaller and smaller) of the biblical account of Christ's birth, but the problem even with that is you rarely if ever hear why Jesus Christ was born. That profound responsibility is commended to those who belong to the Savior.
     I hope next Christmas season your family will not have to wait for Linus to hear what Christmas is all about....and why Jesus was born.

          good Christian men rejoice  with heart and soul and voice
          now ye need not fear the grave  Jesus Christ was born to save
          calls you one and calls you all  to gain His everlasting hall
          Christ was born to save!  Christ was born to save!
         
 FROM "GOOD CHRISTIAN MEN, REJOICE"