Self-examination

Batas Mauricio

AFTER the euphoria of Christmas celebrations, the time would certainly be ripe for all who believe in Christmas to ponder on what we did, or did not do, to celebrate, in 2015, the so-called birth of Jesus Christ, our God and Savior.

Did you, like millions of other Christians around the world, celebrate with festivities, games, gift-giving, and food fests? Did you splurge on partying, drinking, eating, purchasing and buying for yourselves gadget, clothes, shoes, watches, and other expensive and fancy items, or did you hop from one celebration to another?

Or, did you make an attempt to even remember Jesus in the middle of your Christmas activities, and see that He is the light that was promised to save the world? Did you care to at least know why there is Christmas? Did you try to understand why Jesus, who is God and Savior, who is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, decided to come to the world Himself?

Surely, when anyone is celebrating his or her birthday or the anniversary of anything, the reason is clear: it is to commemorate one’s birth into this world, or the establishment of a relationship, or of a company, or of some endeavor whose purposes are clear to the affected personalities.

But to celebrate an event not only connotes festivities. The reason for the festivities and the celebration must also be clear to everyone. The celebration and festivities are not the “be-all” or the “end-all” of the event.

Surely, Christmas is also like that. It is aimed at reminding believers the world over of the birth of Jesus. The objective is to let those who believe in Jesus know and understand that there is Christmas only because, Jesus, our God and Savior, came to the world for one very noble and very great purpose.

The purpose of His coming is to accept in Himself, and thereby free sinners from, the penalty for sinfulness, which penalty consists of being burned by an unquenchable fire and being eaten by millions of worms, for eternity. If Jesus, our God and Savior, who is God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, did not come to the world, not only would there be no Christmas as we know it today.

More importantly, there would be no forgiveness of our sins, and there would be no one who is going to escape the eternal hell of fire and worms. Everybody would be toasted and eaten by worms when the world as we know it shall have come to an end.

That is the reason why all of those who profess to be followers of Jesus must start celebrating Christmas differently now. Christians must now stop senseless celebrations, pressure-filled parties, reckless giving of worthless gifts, eating irresponsibly, as a way to commemorate the birth of Jesus. We must now force ourselves to celebrate Christmas with Jesus as the center of our activities and in the way that Jesus came to the world–in all humility and tenderness and to be a light for all!

E-mail: batasmauricio@yahoo.com