What Christmas?

It's December, the time of year when kids wait for presents and parents make plans that will eat up all their savings. The shopping centers are teeming with people, prices are rising, we are traveling in all directions. A big event is coming. Christmas is the time for great celebrations.

On December 25, we are the day after Christmas Eve, everything is almost calm, we can see broken bottles everywhere in the streets. The atmosphere gives off nauseating odors of vomit. The warm music of the popular album was followed by the snoring of people crushed by food, wine and fatigue. At home, the children, their stomachs bulging and their parents drowned in alcohol, are lying in a deep sleep. Elsewhere in the hospital emergency room there is groaning; he lost an eye after receiving a punch from his rival. This one suffers from a fractured skull, a bottle crashed on his head at the bar; Further on is the morgue of the general hospital which is full of the remains of what were still human beings before the car accident which occurred very early in the morning. It's not a big deal, we generally think of such circumstances, after all, they died celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, perhaps a reward awaits them in heaven. Fortunately, before dying, they had the chance to go to their only mass of the year, midnight mass. Let's talk about this mass. When we spent an hour coveting beautiful young ladies to court them after mass. What place can we give to the Lord in such folklore? Can we celebrate His birth in defiance of the values ​​for which he was born, lived and gave his life? So what were these good people saved from? Rather, they seem to have found their salvation in pleasures of all kinds and have immersed themselves body and soul, and when we consider the eagerness with which all humanity indulges in revelry with all the risks imaginable it is clear that this is a celebration of anything other than the salvation and deliverance from sin for which Christ came. Yes these people seem to be celebrating someone else's birthday not Jesus Christ's.  How can we be so far from the truth?

How deplorable it is that the descendants of Adam choose to give free rein to their most carnal desires precisely on the day that is supposed to be that of the birth of Christ while the areas of the soul and the spirit, the main concerns of Jesus Christ, are kept in silence. Far from being Christians, these people appear more like intruders in the party since they do not want the Lord whose birth they claim to celebrate

Exactly who is this man that we despise on his birthday? Who is this savior whose salvation we reject? About 2,000 years ago, a baby was born in the town of Bethlehem to Joseph and Mary, a young Jewish couple. His name: Jesus which means: “he who will save his people from their sins” Matthew 1: 21. He was also called the Messiah or Christ, that is to say the one who is anointed for a special mission John 4; 24. He did not remain the child of our songs, on the contrary, he grew up and became this man whose words and works marked the well-being and history of humanity in the most profound way. It is enough to read the gospels to realize that apart from him no man has, through his life, his death, his resurrection worked so many miracles. In reality his birth had only one goal: to die on the cross to save Adam's fallen race. So at the age of 33, Jesus was nailed to the tree and his blood was shed and he died for you and for me so that by believing in him we might be saved from the just punishment that God had in store for us because of our sins as it is written “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” Romans 3; 23 “for the wages of sin is death” Romans 6;23 “But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the abominable, the sorcerers, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake of burning sulfur, which is the second death” Revelation 21;8. Out of love for us,  he came preaching repentance, healing the sick, freeing the captives. In Jesus, God came down to earth in human form for the purpose of saving you.  He did not come for the good and righteous who do not need him, but for everyone who recognizes themselves guilty of sin and desperately desires his help. Luke 5; 31 -32. This is the good news that must be celebrated at Christmas not in debauchery but by offering thanks to the Lord who gave himself up for us.

And how do you celebrate Christmas?  And what do you have planned for the New Year? It is a time to take stock and recommit ourselves to living for the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who gave his life for us.

The Lord Jesus said “Behold, I am coming quickly, and my reward is with me, to render to every man according to his work. I am the alpha and the omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have access to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city” Revelation 22:11-14

Prepare to meet your God, and sanctify yourself in the holidays!

For the Camfaith team,

Clovis Fotso