Christmas in the Philippines

It is always a joy to greet everybody “Merry Christmas!” It quickly evokes happy memories of gifts and delicacies, Christmas lights and glitters, Santa Claus and reindeers, lanterns and wrappers, lovely tunes and carols, new clothes and parties. Good for you.

There are people who don’t see Christmas that way, because they could not afford the luxuries of your Christmas.  There are people, who instead of rejoicing during Christmas, only realize how poor they are because they have no gifts to unwrap and no keso de bola to put on their lean dining table.

Is Christmas for the rich only? They are the ones who can avail of the luxuries of Christmas, right? They could even give away extra gifts, so they could feel good about their generosity during Christmas.  

My friends, we all know that Christmas is not about the pretensions of the rich.  It cannot be reduced to gifts and wrappers.  It is not even about the magical kindness of Santa Claus, his fellow elves and his reindeers.  Christmas is about God loving you so much that His Son became a man and died for you and me so we can have eternal life!

“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God” (1 John 3:1)! God loves you!

This Christmas, let’s focus our attention to why we should really celebrate Christmas and put aside all distractions like the material possessions of the earth.  Let’s focus on our Lord Jesus Christ and join the angels in singing:

Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men
on whom His favor rests.
Luke 2:14

My friends, I want to invite you to a Christmas party where the center of celebration is Jesus Christ.  We are a group of Christians whose mission in life is to tell the world of the love of God in Jesus Christ His Son.

Jesus Christ will come again to Earth, this time to bring salvation to those who believe in Him. “Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him” (Hebrews 9:27-28).

Jesus Christ says: “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with Me. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with Me on My throne, just as I overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne” (Revelation 3: 20-21).

If you have not yet accepted the love of God in Jesus Christ His Son, we invite you to open your heart, confess that you are a sinner and receive His gift of salvation. Below is a suggested prayer:

God, the most high, I praise You with all my heart. Forgive me, Lord, for the sins I have committed against You and the people around me. I confess that I am a sinner and could not do anything by myself to reach Your righteousness. I am humbled by Your love. Though I deserve death, You love me so much that You sent Your Son Jesus Christ to die for my sins instead. From now on, I accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and claim the salvation that He offers to me. I allow Him to dwell in me, so that I will always keep Your decrees in my heart. Let me live as a new creation, with love in my heart. Let me love with actions and in truth, as Jesus Christ loves us, to the glory of God in the highest. Amen!

Friends, if you want to know more about the Life offered by Jesus Christ and the wonderful things that He has done for us, we invite you to Emmaus Bible Fellowship Center in Mandaluyong City on December 22, 2002 at 9:30 a.m.