Jesus Paid It All

things in any store, and these are the very things that people need. We all need them. Blessed will they be who receive them this Christmas, or at any other time. Let's not permit the crowds and the rush to crowd Christmas out of our hearts, for that is where it belongs.

And let's not give away to cynicism and mutter that Christmas has become commercialized. You know what never will be unless you let it be. Christmas is not commercialized unless you have commercialized it. And let's not succumb to the sophistication that complains, well, Christmas belongs only to the children, because that shows you have never understood Christmas at all.

For the older you get, the more it means, if you know what it means. Christmas, though for every young, grows old along with us. And have you been saying, I just can't seem to feel the Christmas spirit this year?

That's too bad. As a confession of lack of faith is rather significant. Because you're saying that you feel no joy that Jesus came into the world. You are confessing that His presence in the world is not a reality to you.

Maybe you need to read the Christmas story over again. Maybe you need to sit down with the Gospel of Luke and just think about it. You know we long for the abiding love among men of good will which that season brings, believing in this ancient miracle of Christmas with its softening, sweetening influence.

We want to hold on to the old customs and traditions because they strengthen our family ties. Bind us to our friends. Make us one with all mankind for whom that child was born, and bring us back again to the God who gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,