I heard Bing recently crooning, “Is Christmas only a dream …?”
It conjured up visions of those sugar plums dancing in children’s heads and reindeer pulling Santa’s sleigh above a glittering snow covered town. From there my mind went to the twinkling lights and decorations to parties to shopping. Lots of shopping.
The contrast of truth and illusion struck me forcibly as I listened to the song. Retail sales make this time of year a major support of our way of life for the year. Was Bing right? Is Christmas a dream? Is the glitter and shopping real or is it the illusion? Every year we ask why we celebrate Christmas.
Two thousand years ago, God was born as a man to partake of our human experience and then do the miraculous. He died for our sin on a cross and rose again from the dead to give us eternal life. We don’t see our Salvation walking around as men and women did then, yet the Truth is real and no illusion.
This time of year, the illusion is easy to see and accept –it grabs our attention with its flashiness. But it quickly fades away and its promises turn into another year of working through life’s issues.
The promise of Christmas, however, is enduring and held in the heart. A brighter future is ahead and we are always upheld in His Hand.
“Then I myself will admit to you that your own right hand can save you.” Job 40:14. God speaking to Job when Job contested God’s methods and found God to be true and not an illusion.
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