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Some say that Christmas brings out the best in us, but I don’t see that. What I do see is the pushing and shoving and groveling for inanimate stuff. I see people miffed, because they spent $X.00 on this one and ‘only got’ XYZ.

I see children frustrated, because a newly purchased toy doesn’t work right, or because they didn’t get what they wanted..

Some are angry and hurt because they didn’t get anything at all.

I see the focus on decorations, glitter, eye candy to go along with a ton of shoplifting and car/home break-ins.

I see huge credit card bills spent on ‘stuff’ and the interest that goes with it. Landlords and utilities companies don’t get paid so that their money can be spent on toys, parties and booze.

Giving good gifts to our children is something we as good parents do for them year round in one way or another. That’s not an extra goodness that comes out of us once a year.

Then there’s the suicide rate which tends to increase around this time of year.

Houses burn down due to the overload of lights on electrical sockets. We just had that happen 2 days ago on my street. :(

People can’t seem to celebrate Christmas without a pile of money. Christmas today is so far from a celebration of the giving of the savior as to not even remotely resemble that giving!

Just a little over 100 years ago, it was illegal to celebrate it in many states here in the US! Christians had more sense than to over indulge one’s own pride of all that is involved in selfishness. If indeed Christ is the reason for the season, why is the acquisition of stuff for ourselves the primary focus???

All it takes to ‘ruin someone’s Christmas’ is to break an ornament on the tree!

One day about 10 years ago, I decided to quit contributing to this worldly maddness. The ugliness of what man and marketers did to a day set aside to worship Messiah got to me, stood out like a sore thumb. I watched that worship of stuff replace what God had given, like a light was turned on inside my spirit, and I said....NO MORE. I’ve not regretted a minute of it.

Later, I found the God given Holy Days and I found that they are prophetic as well. Those are the Holy Days ‘Jesus’ participated in....after all, HE gave them if in deed he is God in the flesh! He gave the Sabbath to man, and indeed is Lord of the Sabbath!

I say “IF” he is God in the flesh, because to change those days when He set them forth is to deny his Lordship....unintentionally I’m sure....folks simply never think of it like that, because they are so wrapped up in human tradition. It was men who changed his Holy Days and did all they could to dissolve any Jewish influence ...including killing those early Christians who were in fact, Jews!

Jesus wants us to worship God in spirit and in truth. To do that, we have to look at the difference between what God set forth, and what man set forth, and return to what God set forth, because His is the way, the Truth and the Life. What has become tradition is NOT truth!

Jesus came to show us what that way is, to show us it’s possible, and to have a High Priest in Heaven to make intercession for us for when we err. Follow HIM. To repent is to turn from anything that contradicts what God set forth. What evil means to US can be very different from what it means to God.

Does God say don’t worship him on Sunday or any other day of the week? No. But he does request your presence on specific days that he set forth. Don’t neglect those. Worship him with all your might every day in all that you think, say and do, but be prepared to set down all of your burdens on those days designated by God as a Sabbath, and be prepared to give him that entire time.

He is after all, our Husband, and husbands DO demand one on one time alone with their wives! :D (If we are the bride of Christ)

One thing so many of us complain about is not having enough time to spend in worship and in the word. Strict adherence to Sabbath(s) gives you the God-given authority to tell the world to take a hike! If we can’t flavor the earth, how can we tread on scorpions? Overcome demons?

I’m sure some of us “8%” will be praying and are praying for those with a true heart for God and his ways to come forth. Born again if you will! :)

And for those with a true heart for our Savior, whose heart rises above the things of man, may you be especially blessed as you celebrate the forgiveness he provides through the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the High priest of Heaven, Y’shuah (His hebrew name).