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I
suggest you first sing the song, “Oh, Christmas Tree,” and then read this
article aloud during your Christmas season. You might even want to consider
reading a portion of it each day for a few days every year as part of your
annual Christmas celebrations at home or Church. Make it a tradition—much like
reading the Christmas story from the Bible; see a companion article I wrote for
reading the Christmas story in modern English.]
Oh, Christmas Tree
Oh,
Christmas Tree, Oh, Christmas Tree,
How
steadfast are your branches!
Your
boughs are green in summer’s clime
And
through the snows of wintertime.
Oh,
Christmas Tree, Oh, Christmas Tree,
How
steadfast are your branches!
Oh,
Christmas Tree, Oh, Christmas Tree,
What
happiness befalls me
When
oft at joyous Christmas-time
Your
form inspires my song and rhyme.
Oh,
Christmas Tree, Oh, Christmas Tree,
What
happiness befalls me.
Oh,
Christmas Tree, Oh, Christmas Tree,
Your
boughs can teach a lesson,
That
constant faith and hope sublime
Lend
strength and comfort through all time.
Oh,
Christmas Tree, Oh, Christmas Tree,
Your
boughs can teach a lesson.
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Our
Father God, Our Father God,
How
wondrous are your mercies.
When
I reflect upon your grace,
Such
grace inspires my heart to praise.
Our
Father God, Our Father God,
You
fill my life with all good gifts.
Lord
Jesus Christ, Lord Jesus Christ,
What
wonders you have done for me.
Eternal Life, salvation free.
Christmas is your gift to me.
Lord
Jesus Christ, Lord Jesus Christ,
I
praise you for your wondrous gift.
Sweet
Holy Spirit, Sweet Holy Spirit,
You
fill my life with all good gifts.
As we
journey on t’ward eternity,
The
way is sure with You in me.
Sweet
Holy Spirit, Sweet Holy Spirit,
Great
Three in One, blest Trinity!
Once upon a
time many years ago, a few days before Christmas a young father sat down with
his wife and three small children to explain to them why his heart was so full
of joy this particular Christmas. First he told them about some past
Christmases during which he had no joy. Why was the young father’s heart so
full of joy this Christmas?
Perhaps it
was all the friendly parties and dinners his family attended during the holiday
season. Or, maybe it was the relaxed, cheerful, holiday atmosphere all over the
family’s small community. Or perhaps it was the happiness of anticipating
relatives and friends at their home Christmas day for a sumptious dinner
followed by games, eating leftovers, snacks and desserts, and napping and
visiting during the afternoon. Whatever the reason, the young father’s heart
was full of joy and he didn’t want the season to come to an end. Have you ever
felt that way about the holiday season? I hope so. It’s a wonderful
feeling—like all is well with the whole world during those few days.
What about
those past Christmases when the young father did not have much joy? There was
one holiday season when he almost became "the Grinch who stole Christmas."
During many past Christmas seasons he had become fed up with the commercialism
and secularism of Christmas. Christmas just didn’t seem to be about Christ
anymore. Why, he wanted to do away with Christmas altogether! He almost didn't
let his family have a Christmas tree that particular year, but finally gave in
to their pleading and brought one home for them to decorate. Shortly before
Christmas Day that year he reluctantly put the tree into its stand and prepared
to help the family decorate it—mumbling and grumbling all the while—just like a
Grinch.
Suddenly—in an instant of time—an awesome hush came over the young father’s
spirit. In a solemn moment he felt as though he had been transported from time
into eternity as God began to share some of his thoughts with him—thoughts which
rolled into his mind as waves from the vast sea of God’s limitless mind no doubt
break upon eternity's shores. God’s Spirit whispered four simple words to the
young father: "Concentrate on the colors.''
For many
centuries, certain scholars have studied the meanings of colors, concluding that
colors help us understand concepts and ideas. That is especially true of colors
in the Bible. Did you know there are actually “colorologists” who study such
matters? For example, what woman hasn’t been approached by someone who tells
her how various colors she wears improve or take away from her personality and
“aura”? Many modern automobiles are sold largely on the basis of their color.
We all think in terms of warm colors, bold colors, rich colors, “cold” colors,
and the like. Yes, throughout history colors have played important roles in the
lives of people.
The same is
true of colors mentioned in the Bible. Occurring throughout the Bible from
cover to cover are numerous themes which are vividly enhanced and symbolized by
the Bible's use of colors. Let’s think about some of those colors as they
relate to our Christmas trees.
After the
young father heard God speak those four words into his spirit, he immediately
turned his attention to the Christmas tree and to the decorations and lights
his family was placing on it. All of a sudden it came to him: the various
colors of the tree itself and the decorations and lights began to weave in his
mind a rich tapestry of thoughts about the marvelous, full and complete,
miraculous salvation God conceives and brings to birth in the hearts of all
people by the power of his Spirit, just as Jesus was miraculously conceived in
Mary long, long ago and was born on that wonderful, starry, starry night while
shepherds tended their flocks in the fields near the village of Bethlehem.
Here are
some simple thoughts about trees and colors which now brighten and enrich all
that young father’s Christmases; that young father is now an old man and his
children are all grown. I hope these thoughts help to make this Christmas—and
all of your Christmases to come rich and wonderful—full of brightness and joy.
Let’s begin
with the color brown. The Bible mentions this color only four times, but
history and mythology tell us a great deal about the color brown. With very few
exceptions, brown is symbolic of death and dying.
First let’s
consider the brown trunk and branches of the tree. They symbolize our old human
natures which are now "dead." The trunk and branches of the Christmas tree are
really dead although they appear to be still alive. The Christmas tree's life
ended the moment it was cut down; our old human nature ended at the cross and we
are dead to that old life, crucified with Jesus Christ on another tree, its
brown surface stained red with his precious blood. By faith, we are no longer
living that old life; for all practical purposes our old life is part of an
ancient, pre-historic race which is now "extinct" as far as God is concerned.
God doesn’t see the browness of our old life; all he sees is our new life in
Christ.
Yes, from
God's eternal perspective, we are no longer members of the old human race; we
are part of a new race of beings patterned after the risen Son of God; he is the
pattern, and God is creating in us an entirely new race of sons and daughters
formed in the same likeness as the living Lord Jesus Christ! Yes, our old lives
are "dead." That's what the brown colors of the trunk and branches of our
Christmas trees symbolize to us.
The green
needles of the tree portray our new lives in Jesus Christ, new lives which
obscure our old lives just as the green needles of our Christmas trees obscure
their “dead” trunks and branches. Oh, occasionally, our old lives will surface
and come into view, just as we can occasionally spot the brown branches of our
trees here and there behind the green needles. But when one looks at our trees
it is the rich green color that comes into focus most clearly, Just as God's
focus is upon our new resurrection lives which we now live by faith.
That is how
God sees us because of what Jesus has done for us. We have been raised to new
lives with him. Old things have passed away. All things have become new. We
are like lush green trees planted by the river of life. (Psalm 1:3) Our
"leaves'' are for the healing of others as the Spirit of God produces his own
life-giving fruit (Galatians 5: 22 and 23) through us, fruit which bears
abundantly in its seasons because our roots are planted deeply in the rich soil
of God's word. (Revelation 22:2) We live and move and have our new being in
Christ by means of God's indwelling, LIFE-giving Spirit. Yes, our green
Christmas tree needles symbolize our new life in Christ.
Perhaps we
best think of the color green in Psalm 23 in the Bible, where we read of the
fresh, tender, green pastures into which God leads us so he can refresh,
restore, and renew our lives.
The bright,
multi-colored lights twinkling among the green needles of our trees express
Jesus, the light of the world, to us. He is THE Light. (John 1:4) We all
perceive that Light differently; we perceive him as many-hued, as all colors of
the spectrum of light. He is a rainbow of colors; each of us perceives that
rainbow differently, based upon our own levels of understanding about who Jesus
is at whatever point we are in our relationship with him. He is the many-hued
Light; we are lesser lights which shine with his brightness in a darkened world.
By his
grace we have been snatched from the kingdom of darkness (Colossians 1:13) and
created as newly born citizens of the kingdom of light. It's a kingdom with a
brightness far greater than that of the noonday sun on a cloudless summer day.
Our individual lights blink on and off and twinkle in a sin-darkened world when
we permit THE Light within us to shine out of us. We are clay containers out of
which his bright Light shines, ignited and sustained by the oil of the Spirit of
God. (2 Corinthians 4:7) That's what the multi-colored, twinkling lights on our
trees symbolize.
Yes, Jesus
is the Light of the world, written about so eloquently by John in the first
three chapters of his Gospel. We are dimmer lights (Matthew 5:16), reflecting
his brighter light to a relatively dark world.
The Bible
is full of references indicating that gold symbolizes the pure character of
God. The gold garlands we wind around our Christmas trees symbolize God’s
character he is reproducing in our new lives through trials and testings which
he lovingly permits to come to us. When he has tested us, we shall emerge as
gold, refined and purified to the point of transparency—no longer dark, but
clear so his own golden life can be seen in us. (Job 23:10)
He has laid
a new foundation in our lives and is building upon that foundation a new
character consisting of gold, silver, and precious stones. Gold in its purest
form is like clear glass, and God wants our lives to be clear and transparent so
other persons seeing our lives will see Jesus Christ living his own life out
through ours.
Just as the
gold garlands encircling our Christmas trees are intertwined among the green
needles, God wants his life to be so much intertwined and interwoven with ours
that the onlooker will not see just us, but a blending of both God and us—God
living his own life out through us. God wants to appear to our world in a very
real sense as Emmanuel, meaning “God with us." (Matthew 1:23) God wants people
to see him in us, our lives hidden in his; his life expressed through ours.
Yes, he wants others to see his golden character and nature displayed through
us.
The shiny
blue ornaments which are placed among the green needles and the golden garlands
remind us of royalty, heaven, and the power given to us by God’s Spirit. To be
anointed means to receive God’s power for daily living. We need his anointing
for us to yield to God so he can live his own life out through our new lives.
Only through the anointing and power of the Spirit at work within us and
throughout all the areas of our lives can we yield to God's refining,
character-building work within us; God's anointing must be at home in us and we
must rely unreservedly upon him. It is the anointing of God's Spirit which
teaches us, guides us into truth, bears fruit in our lives, and purifies us.
The color
blue also causes us to think of heaven and of our life and service to God in the
ages to come, assisting him with the eternal restoration and management of the
universe. It also reminds us of our royalty as God’s sons and daughters being
groomed as princes and princesses, kings and queens in the royal courts of King
Jesus.
Throughout
the Bible, silver often symbolizes redemption. The few silver icicles we have
delicately suspended here and there among the other ornaments and decorations on
our tree remind us that the Son of God was killed on our behalf for a few silver
coins, a paltry sum when we consider the actual purchase price of our
redemption. Our purchase price was the very life's blood of the King of Kings
who voluntarily stripped himself of his royal apparel and descended to earth to
be born in a stable, wrapped in swaddling clothes, and laid in a manger.
All the
silver in the universe could not have paid the price he paid for our
redemption. But once having made himself relatively poor for our sakes, Jesus
resumed his proper place at the right hand of the throne of the universe. All
the Father has given to him, Jesus now freely shares with us as his joint-heirs,
princes and princesses being groomed in the royal household of God. Yes, the
delicate silver icicles remind us of the unimaginable price paid for our
redemption and the wonderful future God has in store for each of us as we
continue our journey to eternity.
Let’s think
about the color red in the Bible. It most often symbolizes the blood Jesus shed
to pay the ransom price of our sins. In fact, it can be said that a “red river
of LIFE” flows through biblical history culminating in Jesus’ bloody death on
the cross. We have redemption through his blood. (Ephesians 1:7) All the
animal sacrifices in the Old Testament were symbolic pictures, pointing forward
in time to the supreme sacrifice of the ages for all people, occurring on a
bloody cross on a barren hillside near Jerusalem 2,000 years ago.
Although
that event occurred in historical time and space, in reality it occurred outside
of time and space—an eternal event on behalf of all people living in all the
ages of time. The Bible puts it this way: “Without Jesus shedding his blood,
there would be no release from sin and all it’s penalties.” (Hebrews 9:22)
Thank God for Jesus’ willingness to come to earth as a baby, for living his
sinless life, for dying on the cross and shedding his blood, for God raising him
from the dead, for his return to heaven, and then his return to earth in 70 A.D.
to establish his eternal kingdom!
The white
bulbs and ornaments symbolize God’s righteousness he has freely given to us. He
has replaced our sin with his righteousness, so that when he looks at us He sees
only the righteousness, not our sin. The book of Revelation in the Bible
contains many references to the color white. In most cases, white refers to
righteousness—but not our own righteousness. Left to ourselves we are not good
and clean and pure and righteous. No, left to ourselves we are a mixture of
both good and bad—sometimes we can be quite good, sometimes we can be quite
bad. But our own goodness is never good enough; it’s always mixed with sin.
For that reason, God covers us with his own goodness, replacing our sin with his
righteousness.
For all the
Christmases of all his years to come, every time that young father (now much
older and wiser) sees a Christmas tree he will be reminded that God has cut down
our old human life and nature; he has given us a brand-new life in Christ, a new
life in which he is reproducing his own life. He has adorned our lives with
bright ornaments of truth and light. He has anointed us richly with his
Spirit. He has paid the full price necessary to redeem each of us.
I love Christmas. I love Christmas trees.
They are joyous reminders of God's entire plan of creation, redemption, and
restoration for my life…and for yours!
Lord Jesus Christ, Lord Jesus Christ, what
wonders you have done for us…at this Christmas time. We thank you for this
beautiful Christmas tree and all it symbolizes in each of our lives!
I
wish you a very merry and Christ-filled Christmas this year and hope you have
the most beautiful Christmas tree ever…!
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