{"id":3310,"date":"2021-12-09T12:33:07","date_gmt":"2021-12-09T20:33:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gracecommunitympk.org\/?p=3310"},"modified":"2021-12-11T12:36:35","modified_gmt":"2021-12-11T20:36:35","slug":"o-christmas-tree-advent-devotional-december-9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gracecommunitympk.org\/ch\/devotionals\/o-christmas-tree-advent-devotional-december-9\/","title":{"rendered":"O Christmas Tree – Advent Devotional – December 9"},"content":{"rendered":"

O\u00a0Christmas<\/a>\u00a0Tree<\/strong>
\nBy Skip Heitzig<\/p>\n

I read somewhere that in a recent Christmas season Americans used 28 million rolls of wrapping paper and 17 million packages of tags and bows, sent out 372 million greeting cards, and set up 35 million Christmas trees.<\/p>\n

Some of our Christmas traditions are just that, traditions. Jesus was probably not born on December 25, for example. And the Christmas tree is based on the celebration of the reincarnation of Nimrod. The ancient Babylonians burned a \u201cYule\u201d log (the Chaldean word for infant) in the fireplace, and the next day a symbolic evergreen tree was placed inside the house.<\/p>\n

This pagan ritual is hinted at in the\u00a0Bible<\/a>, in\u00a0Jeremiah 10:1-4<\/a>. But before you get worried, I want you to know that if you come to my church, you\u2019ll find a very large Christmas tree in the foyer! And you know what? Most people born in this country don\u2019t know the origins of these things, and we aren\u2019t worshiping Babylonian gods and goddesses. It\u2019s not about that. (And it\u2019s good to remember that Martin Luther was the first guy to put a Christmas tree inside the home.)<\/p>\n

At the same time, what are we to do with some of these traditions? Let\u2019s look at what Jesus did when He was faced with a festival that had a lot of tradition, some of which may have been true and some not. In John chapter 10, He was in the temple for the Feast of Dedication, also known as the Festival of Lights, or Hanukkah. You won\u2019t find it in the Bible anywhere; it dates from the period between Old and New Testaments. But Jesus was celebrating Hanukkah, and He used the Festival of Lights to shine the light on who He really is (John 10:22-30<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\n
And I suggest that\u2019s what we do with Christmas. You can say, \u201cBah, humbug!\u201d You can get \u201cSanta Claustrophobic.\u201d You can run from it. Or you can use it to shine the light on who Jesus really is.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

People are singing the words we preach in evangelical churches every week:\u00a0Christ by highest heaven adored, Christ the everlasting Lord. Veiled in flesh the Godhead see! Hail, incarnate deity! Pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel. Hark, the herald angels sing, \u201cGlory to the newborn king!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

At least some of them don\u2019t know what they\u2019re singing, but that\u2019s where we come in. We can redeem it by reminding them. Does it matter when He came? No, it matters THAT He came. Since the celebration is already ongoing, I say let\u2019s use it to remind them of Him.<\/p>\n

\"Connect<\/picture><\/a><\/p>\n

For more from Skip Heitzig, visit\u00a0ConnectwithSkip.com<\/a>,\u00a0and listen to today’s broadcast of The Connection with\u00a0Skip Heitzig<\/a>\u00a0at OnePlace.com.<\/p>\n

Source: Crosswalk Devotionals\u00a0<\/span>Published on 2021-12-09<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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