Just Do It!

 "And when your children ask you, 'What does this ceremony mean to you?' then tell them..." Exodus 12:26

    Every year in mid-March, I sit back and watch the frivolity surrounding St. Patrick's Day. Avid folks in shamrock shirts chase corned beef and hash with green beer, never stopping to think why they are doing it. Sometimes, I will ask them, "Who was St. Patrick?" It's a privilege to tell them about the missionary who'd been taken from his homeland as a slave to Ireland. After he'd regained his liberty, his love for the lost people of that country tugged him to return, bringing with him the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's a great way to begin a conversation about our Savior.

    When we forget the origin of our celebrations, we are like a person who walked past the historic St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City, admiring its awesome architecture, yet turned a corner and looked back and all that is seen now is a Dollar General. The former is forgotten. 

    What's behind Christmas? Santa, silver bells and elves on shelves? Does the power of pretty dresses and pastel eggs blot out the resurrection of the crucified Messiah every Easter? Satan's smokescreens seek to smother the light of the Gospel until green beer replaces the celebration of the birth of Christianity to an entire nation. It's little wonder God, knowing us like He does, reminds us throughout the scriptures to remember! If the loss of our liberties in America meant the tearing down of crosses or the torching of sanctuaries, would the truth slip from your heart as easily as turning a corner?

    We have so so much to celebrate! At Christmas, bake a birthday cake for Jesus with the little ones in your life. Take them to a live nativity. Every Easter, don't glide right by Good Friday, eager to embrace the joy of the resurrection. Talk about the gravity of sin and the power of the blood. If we don't teach our kids the truth, what falsehoods await them in the secular kingdom? Don't wait for them to ask you either; just do it.

    "Only be careful and watch yourselves closely, so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them. " Deuteronomy 4:9