Christmas Means Freedom
God didn’t make you to be a slave
Christmas. We all think its a time for family, loved ones and gathering to celebrate the love we feel and give. It is that for sure. But its so much more. Its actually a holiday all about freedom.
I hear you now. Independence Day is all about freedom. You would be correct. However, Christmas is the first Independence day on this planet.
You see, this is the holiday in which we celebrate the birth of Christ here on Earth. Jesus Christ came to free us from the wages of our sins. He came to give us true freedom.
According to our modern calendar, Christ was born about 2020 years ago or so. I know, I know, He was not actually born in the month of December. In fact according to history which is pretty accurate about when the travels of Mary and Joseph took place, you could peg the actual time of birth around late August or early September.
We know this because of how the bible describes the reason for Mary and Joseph to be in Bethlehem in the first place. Taxes.
Let that sink in.
History tells us that at that time, Caesar demanded a census count for taxes to be levied on all the citizens of Ancient Rome. At this time, Israel was a province of the Roman Empire and all people had to go back to there city or town of birth to be counted and properly taxed.
Historically the time would have been as I described earlier. So why do we celebrate Christmas in December if Jesus could not have possibly have been born in that month?
Well, the early church was looking for ways to garner more support and to eliminate the influence of paganism which was very prevalent during that time. So what better way to celebrate the Christ Child than to put his birth day celebration on the very day that pagans of the day thought was one of their holiest days.
You can look this up for yourself and learn a whole lot more than what I am telling you now. But back to the reason for this article.
Freedom.
There was a problem back in the day. Same problem we have today. Sin.
The problem with sin is that it enslaves the sinner. God knew this going way back to the beginning of human history with Adam and Eve.
God made a way for people to, shall we say, cover their sin so He would not see it. It was called SACRIFICE.
The bible tells us all the different kinds of sacrifice that was needed based on the level of sin that each person committed. The problem was, it became very impersonal and very ritualistic. People wrongly thought they could simply buy their way out of sin. Buy the bird or the lamb or the sheep and all would be right with God.
Not true.
People were still enslaved by their sin. They thought all they had to do was sacrifice the animal or other ritualistic item to be in the good graces of God while not shunning the sin that they committed. Instead they kept sinning. The same sin over and over and over again. Trapped by what they perceived was fun and nice even if it was not actually good.
People allowed governments to rise that restricted their freedom but often allowed them to still sin. In fact, history is re-pleat with governments that not only allowed sin, but promoted it.
For example, we know that Ancient Romans practiced the sin of gluttony. They would engorge themselves with all kinds of delectable foods of the day. Then they would force themselves to regurgitate that food so they could indulge further.
This practice was not limited to the Romans. Historical evidence tells us that many cultures did this same thing.
That was just one of many “public” sins.
But what did the Jew and the Gentile do in order to make themselves “right with God”? They sacrificed something according to “law” in order to clean the slate.
But the problem was, since they did not renounce that sin, their slate was not cleaned and they kept on indulging in that sin. They became a slave to it. Today we call it addiction. And we all know and understand that addicts of anything are not free. They are slaves to that addiction.
The birth of Christ changed the game. We learned that He became the ultimate sacrifice for us but that sacrifice had a price. A price for us. Humans. We had to renounce the sin and truly commit to not repeating or indulging in that sin.
Again, we know today that when an addict admits to their addiction and they take the proper steps to stay away from that addiction, they achieve a freedom they have never known. We hear this acknowledgment from addicts in various different programs geared towards that particular addiction.
Its also interesting to note that most of the more successful addiction programs reference God and biblical principles in their programs.
Don’t thin for an instant that addiction is limited to substances or things like shopping. There are other, more dangerous and even more deadly addictions such as power, murder and money.
There is also other addictions that come out of those above such as corruption. You see, sin corrupts the individual. And sometimes that corruption runs so deep and so strong that its all that matters to that individual which leads them to commit the ultimate sin of murder, just to name one.
People become addicted to corruption. Addicted to power. Addicted to money.
But Christ gave us a way out. A way out of the slavery of sin. A way back to freedom. We often use the biblical speak words of “repent” and “redemption” to describe this breaking of the chains of sin.
The reality is that this holiday is more than about gifts and lights and trees and decorations. Although if you are not careful you can be entrapped by the sin of over shopping. Hey, many folks in the Western world will experience this slavery when their credit card bill arrive in January and February. You may already know what I’m talking about.
The borrower is slave to the lender.
But Christ has given you a way out of all of this slavery. He is the ultimate sacrifice if you would only repent from your sin.
You could make a plan to get out of debt in 2022. Believe me, when you owe no man a single dime, you will experience a freedom like you have not known since you were a child. But you have to believe this in your heart. Oh wait, Christ once said you have to have faith as a child.
Kids don’t know anything about debt, credit cards, loans, etc. The youngest of us only know of Santa Clause and believe with all their heart that he will bring them gifts of toys and cloths if they have been good all year.
Now if Santa will bring good boys and girls gifts, what kinds of gifts will your Father in heaven give you if you simply follow his formula for freedom? Many folks already know.
You can know this as well.
You start by simply remembering what this season is really about. Not the presents under the tree. But the ultimate gift that was given to you two millennia ago. The gift of true redemption. The gift of true freedom.
And when you understand this kind of freedom and experience this kind of freedom you wont let the corrupt take it from you. And you will be slave to no one.
Our Founders believed in this kind of freedom and enshrined it in our governing documents including the Constitution. They rightfully believed that you are born free and should live free. After all, God did not make you a slave to Him.
Now are you gonna let another human take away the gift of freedom that was given to you by God Himself?
As always, due to free will, the choice is yours. Slavery or Freedom.
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