Let It Begin...

It is December 1, snow is falling, Thanksgiving is past, the tree is up...I guess that means it is officially the Christmas season, like it or not. My devotions for this morning were in Romans chapter 1 which is a part of Scripture that actually fits this thought. Before this morning I had never thought of Romans 1 being a "Christmas" passage, but I guess I can't know everything, right?

Anyway, here is what first jumped out to me:

"...concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." Romans 1:3-4 NKJV

This verse is found in the Apostle Paul's "resume." He is describing God's work in calling him to be an apostle. Specifically, the passage above is a definition of the "gospel of God" mentioned in the first verse. What is the gospel according to these verses? That the Lord Jesus, coming as a human being in the family of king David, was shown to be God Himself. The proof of this is His death and resurrection. Isn't this the message of Christmas? True, we often focus on this specific message at Easter, but it all begins with the birth of the Savior does it not?

The second item that jumped out at me is in verse 16:

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek." Romans 1:16 NKJV

This is a key verse for the book of Romans. Most of the book is an in-depth explanation of what Paul is not ashamed of--the gospel of Christ. Does this apply in some way to this discussion of Christmas? I believe it does. As Christians, we are not to be ashamed of the good news (the gospel) of salvation. That means if the gospel begins with the birth of the Savior, then we should not be ashamed to reject the claim of society on this holiday (the commercialism, Santa Claus, etc.) and instead proclaim the Savior's birth unashamedly. Why? Because it is the power of God. Who wouldn't want that (the power of God in salvation) for a Christmas gift? Will you join me this Christmas in the fellowship of the unashamed?