WHOSE BIRTHDAY IS IT ANYWAY?

Now that Thanksgiving has come and gone, we are approaching almost everyone's favorite holiday.  Christmas.  I love giving and receiving gifts ever since I can remember as a child.  Christmas could not come soon enough!  Then after Christmas, there is that sinking feeling of it being over and I have to wait another year for it to come around.  Year in and year out, the older I get the less and less I look forward to this holiday, at least as far as gift giving is concerned.  

These past few years, as my relationship with God grew, the real essence of Christmas and whom we should be celebrating has become more important to me than the gift giving or receiving.  I start to question why is it that I receive gifts when it is not even my birthday but Jesus'?  I know it is a tradition but just imagine this.

On your birthday, instead of you getting a birthday cake, your family and friends gave the cake and the party to your next door neighbor in your name.  They gave each other presents but didn't give you one.  They decorated their own house and each other's house but not yours.  They celebrated another year of your life but didn't invite you.   I wonder if Jesus is up there in heaven wondering the same thing when folks who were celebrating His birthday wasn't even thinking about Him or much less celebrating Him?

Jesus was and is God's gift to us.  The most precious gift anyone could ever give us is the gift of life.  You are on this earth because your parents gave birth to you and if you love your life, you thank them for giving you that life!  Jesus didn't have to die for us, He could've saved His own life, but then He would just be another Adam.  He would have defeated the purpose of God's plan for Him.  Then we would all have to go to hell in a hand basket.

So this year, why not celebrate the true meaning of Christmas, which is Jesus Christ?  Why not give yourself back to Him as an offering by commemorating His birthday doing something nice for someone, a gift of hope.  How about doing something nice for others to give them hope?  Have you forgotten for a minute who this celebration is for?

Until my next rant... LOVE ONE ANOTHER!