Wow!  It’s hard to believe that another year is almost past.  As a young man I thought it strange how the older folk spoke of time “speeding up” as they grew older.  Now I’m saying the same to my sons—does this mean I’m getting old?  The passage of time could be depressing except for the joy of celebrating Christmas every December to take our minds off of the fleeting years.

  Several years ago I was searching for a song to use in our church family’s celebration of Christ’s birth.  I wanted something different, something that would challenge our people to focus on the whole of God’s gift to mankind on that first Christmas long ago.  When my wife realized what I was doing, she immediately remembered an article she had seen containing the words of a song that was written in 1954 by William and Mildred Dillon entitled The Babe In The Manger.  This was the message that I had been looking for.  It has challenged the hearts of my family every year since that date.  It is my prayer that during this Christmas season, you too will be challenged by its message.

  • Do you worship the Babe in the manger, but reject the Christ of the Cross?  Your redemption comes not by the manger, but the death of Christ on the Cross.

  • If you worship the Babe in the manger, but ignore the Blood of God’s Son, to you Christ is only a stranger, ‘til you trust the work He has done.

  • Will you look past the Babe in the manger, will you look to Calvary?  Oh my friend can you see the danger of a lost eternity?

  Chorus:  The Babe in the manger was God’s only Son, who came to the world to die.  The Babe in the manger could never have done the work of His God on high.  The Babe left the manger and went to the Cross to pay the wages of sin.  Your way of forgiveness is not by the Babe, but the Christ who died for your sins.

  The Babe in the manger, the Christ of the cross, is now the risen Son of God, our Savior.  He is God’s gift to you, have you received Him yet?

  Have a blessed Christmas!

  Did you ever wonder what moved the writers of our beloved Christmas carols to pen the precious words that bring joy to our hearts year after year?  And did you ever notice how the story of our Lord’s birth can be conveyed using only their titles?

  Since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, mankind has been in need of a Savior.  The Bible tells us that from before the foundation of the world, God intended to provide One, and those who knew of His intention prayed diligently, “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.”  But not until the time was right did those Angels from the Realms of Glory come on that Silent Night, While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks in the fields outside the Little Town Of Bethlehem, to announce God’s good tidings of great Joy To The World.  The angels told the shepherds that in that very town, Away In A Manger, an Infant Holy, Infant Lowly was born—the Savior, which is Christ the Lord.

  And so it has been down through the ages that Good Christian Men Rejoice at the remembrance of that great event that took place Once in Royal David’s City where our Sweet Little Jesus Boy was born.  He was Of The Father’s Love Begotten, that He might save His people from their sins.

  Perhaps to our shame, there are still those who would confess, “I Wonder As I Wander down the path of life, What Child Is This?, Who Is He In Yonder Stall?”  We can encourage them to, by faith, listen through the annals of time to The First Noel sung by the angels so long ago.  Hark The Herald Angels Sing, Glory To The Newborn King!

  O Come All Ye Faithful, who know what happened that first Christmas night, …O Holy Night.  Let us Rejoice, Rejoice This Happy Morn in that through faith, Angels We Have Heard On High, singing of the Christ Child who was Born To Die that we might live.

  Should we keep the real meaning of Christmas to ourselves?  No, let us Go Tell It On The Mountain, Over The Hills And Everywhere.  How Great Our Joy!

  There seem to be more and more people these days who claim to know God, but are not willing to explain how the relationship was established.  Perhaps because of their assumed favored status, they feel no compulsion to share Him with us “have nots.”  Some may be so bold as to believe that they are unique, and God has chosen to commune with them because they are simply His type.  Perhaps they believe that they are more intellectual than those of us who are compelled to talk about religion and God, and they don’t want to waste their time trying to reason with us.

  The greatest number of those who are silent about their salvation believe simply that they are “good people,” and God would have no logical reason to reject their fellowship in the future.  These good people are often afraid to talk about their relationship with the Lord because they are ashamed of their ignorance.  To say that they are “Christians” or that they “believe in God” is the best way to avoid the conversation.  The old, “If you can’t beat them, join them.” approach.  They get angry at those who are persistent with them.

   No doubt, there are still others who reject everything that does not stand up to their reasoning.  While they would not deny that there is a God, they cannot accept that He might be more complex or capable than themselves.  They refuse to believe anything that cannot be explained in the same terms that they use to describe their own existence, and the matter is not open for discussion.

  While it may seem logical to call one’s relationship with God a personal matter, it is certainly selfish and ill-advised to say that such a relationship with the Almighty could, or should, be private.  The Psalmist said, “Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy; (Psalm 107:2)”  God requires that believers share His way of salvation with others.  “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: (1Peter 3:15)”  But maybe you are without hope.  “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. (Acts 16:31).”

  Quite often we hear secularists suggest that America was founded by Deists  (Deists believe in a watchmaker type God, who created everything, set it in motion, and left it to its own demise).  These same revisionists teach that the foundational principles upon which our nation was founded were the sentiments of rationalists from the 18th century Enlightenment in Europe (rationalists generally have no regard for religious beliefs).  These same activists promote and empower the “cancel culture” movement today (a sociopolitical movement which endeavors to delegitimize and ostracize those who disagree with them).  They speak with authority, but they are not students of history, as true historical fact is contrary to their political narrative.   Generations have believed their lies and America has been redefined while armchair patriots are appeased with stimulus checks and the endless political foosball played by increasing numbers of ignorant political activists with misplaced loyalties.

  But lies don’t become truth because someone believes them, and truth does not bend for those unwilling to accept it.  America was founded on Christian principles by men who believed that God had ordained that they formulate an independent nation.  They understood that their success would not be possible without divine blessing.  Our laws were intended by the founders to be a reflection of universally accepted biblical morals and standards that they believed were essential to ensure longevity.

  In his prayer journal, George Washington wrote, “Bless my family, kindred, friends and country, be our God and guide this day and forever for His sake, who lay down in the grave and rose again for us, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”  Samuel Adams declared, “Providence [God] will erect a mighty empire in America.”  Patrick Henry declared, “…we shall not fight our battle alone.  There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations…”  And the list goes on—just look them up for yourselves.

  I, for one, agree with our founding fathers, if our Christian roots are denied, without God, our unalienable rights will be forgotten, and the land of liberty will be lost.

  You have probably heard someone say, “Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.”  “It is the only one that cannot be commercialized.”  While it may be true that Thanksgiving is not the most “profit taking” season of the year, there are those who post, at the top of their list of blessings, the capital gains from the sale of decorations, and preparations of Thanksgiving cuisine. 

  And then there are those for which the day has become only a gluttonous feast, often followed by a festival of folly.  For them, there is no thought of blessing nor giving of thanks.  What they have was earned by endless hours of toil and strain.  They have only themselves to thank—or so they say.

  Still others have taken the season seriously.  They carefully categorize their bounty in order to offer a sincere “thank you” to those who were instrumental in helping them to achieve their personal goals.  Their list of recipients is like the credits that roll up the screen at the end of a Hollywood feature film.

  What’s my point?  Simply this: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. (James 1:17)”  Thanksgiving was instituted with God in mind as its Object.  We have missed the mark!

  In 1863, Abraham Lincoln reminded the country,“We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has grown.

But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.

Intoxicated with unbroken success we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.”  Perhaps we should be reminded again.