
Christmas is a very special day for Christians, second only in the opinion of this writer to Easter. It is the day that we celebrate the birthday of our Savior, Christ the Lord. Jesus Christ, a part of the Living God, came to us in human form as a baby born of a virgin mother in a drafty, damp manger. It was his Father’s way of truly showing His humanity in a humble form at the start of a life designed to teach us how to live and offer us redemption through grace.
Jesus was a wise and gifted teacher, able to handle any issue directly but also leaving the final decision to the receiver of His words. He was free will personified, giving all the information needed for making a moral and sound decision, but not making that decision for us. He spent his three final years teaching and showing the Way from sin, tirelessly traveling from town to town and meeting and impacting thousands.
But that was not the principal reason for His being here. His prime mission came at the very end when he was accused and offered up under trumped up charges to die for questioning the authority and judgment of the Jewish leaders. They were jealous of his wisdom and fearful of his message which directly conflicted with their trappings of power as the leaders of the synagogue and even many of those who had marveled at his words turned against him.
Now we know that He died so that we might be afforded the opportunity to gain Eternal Life with Him and the Father. All we have to do is believe in Him by faith and use that faith to guide our lives. By being born again, fresh and new with all sins and wrongdoings purged from us, we become for the first time in our lives truly free.
And this is where the links become clear between we conservatives and Jesus in the way we want to live our lives, for Jesus is the personification of freedom. By turning our being over to Him as our leader and guide, we are freed up from the chains of sin and the evil of this world and left with the openness needed to function as free individuals. After all, everything that Jesus offers is available to each of us individually; it is not a group decision that we have to make in giving our lives to Him.
And while it is important for us to join together in the community of Christians for encouragement, renewal and fellowship, no one else can make the choice of freedom for us. It parallels very closely to the way we feel about government and power. We want to be left to our own good judgment in deciding what is best for us.
So as we celebrate this wonderful day, let us renew ourselves by vowing to live freely by our faith in Him, for he will always guide us properly and never leave us when we need him. It is a comfort and it gives us a peace that money just can’t buy. It is the most wonderful gift of all, life with Him which never ends.
Happy birthday, Jesus.