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Show Let's Not Act As The j Innkeeper With No Room For Jesus There are those who say Christmas will always be ( Christmas, but that is not necessarily true. Christmas j stops being Christmas when we forget to focus on the reason behind Christmas. Too many, all too often, f focus on "What will I get? What parties will I go to? -How can I get all that I want? Etc." We all need to xemember that God is the power behind Christmas in that He gave Himself in the form of His Son. j When we act like the innkeeper who had no room for Jesus, we become like Scrooge in 'The Christmas .Carol." We want to keep Christmas in our own way and "bah humbug" on the rest. We turn away from the .announcement that came that night 2000 years ago, "Joy to the World, the Lord Is Come," and turn our attention jto ourselves. We make Christmas a self-serving celebration with no meaning to it other than "what's in it .for me." We need to look at what Jesus has done for us r , and celebrate the love that He has shown us. Without M ,His having come as a babe born to give Himself so jwe might have a future of hope the celebration of .Christinas would be very hollow indeed, j Let us look back to the night of that birth and respond 'as the shepherds did accepting Him and celebrating by telling others about that glorious birth and the bright ,hope for tomorrow that it gives. Let us also see that 1 Without His coming, we could not celebrate His birth like the wise men did when they went searching and ' found a treasure greater than any other they might have fought. They were wise enough to see that the reason to 1 celebrate was the child they found and neither their f knowledge nor their self-importance. All the elements of .that night the star, the angel, the shepherds, and the f. Wise men are all part of the reason for the celebration :of Christmas, but the overriding reason to celebrate is the ;. birth of Jesus Christ the Lord. 1 Let not your heart be sad, bitter, or greedy at this time i bf year, but be joyful that Jesus did come and through I Him we all can keep Christmas from not being ! Christmas. No matter who or what we may be, we can j have our life changed by accepting Jesus Christ as Lord 1 j 'and Savior and through this, we can keep Christmas as a j celebration of joy and love. Let's not by refusing j j pod's gift to us keep Christmas from being what it j 1 should be. We should treasure the celebration of j jChristmas as a celebration of life and keep its true j meaning in our lives all year long. j My prayer for all is that they will accept God's loving gift and continue thereafter to walk in His love. Only in I this way will we keep Christmas from not being f Christmas. All joy can be ours by celebrating Jesus Christ as the reason for celebrating Christmas. From j. me, and from all who attend New Beginning baptist Church a very Merry Christmas and a joyous New . Year. ' J , ,V.-...---.., -..j.j..7,v-. j: ........ ",- ,; , I ' .. pj , S I.J,,1 ; . , ,-. ; , J , |