It is that time of year when the atheists try to remove Christ from Christmas. They want the "mas" that includes the lights, trees, parties, gifts, etc., but not the "Christ". They don't want to admit that Christ exists otherwise they would be forced to face the realization that they are one day going to stand before Him, bow their knee, confess Jesus Christ as Lord and then be judged for the sin they committed against their Holy, Righteous Creator.
So instead, they push to take out any reference of Him by calling the season, the holiday season and we now have Happy Holidays, holiday trees, holiday parties, etc.
But did you know that the word holiday derives from the Middle English word, holidai, which means Holy Day and that word came from the Old English words halig (holy) and daeg (day).
So the next time someone says Happy Holidays, you could inform them about the root of word holiday, explain to them that the birth of our Savior is a Holy day of Holy days. Now you have a natural spring board into the Gospel.
We were created by a Holy God.
"God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female he created them." (Genesis 1:27) But then we rebelled (sinned) against Him,
"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23) and with sin comes punishment
"for the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23) This punishment is eternal because God is eternal and our sins are against Him;
"These will go away into eternal punishment" (Matthew 25:46) We all deserve this punishment!
But this is the Good News,
"for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." (Luke 2:11) who lived a perfect, sinless life, always obedient to the Father.
"Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." (Philippians 2:8) creating a way for us to be reconciled to God;
"and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also those of the whole world." (1 John 2:2) And this forgiveness is a free gift,
"the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. " (Romans 6:23) The bible teaches that forgiveness is received by grace alone,
"For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9) This forgiveness is demonstrated by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,
"He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." (John 3:36) and repentance (turning) from sin,
"From that time Jesus began to preach and say, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand'." (Matthew 4:17)
