Page 14
December 2004
The AC Phoenix
The True
Reason for
the Season
By Dr. Patricia Bailey
The bible tells us in Luke
4:18 that Jesus said, “The Spirit
of the Lord is upon me,
because he hath anointed me
to preach the gospel to the
poor; he hath sent me to heal
the brokenhearted, to preach
deliverance to the captives, and
recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty them that are
bruised.” We are also told in Luke 19:10 that
to seek and to save that which was lost
Dr. Patricia Bailey in front of the Rock the
Dome in Israel
“The Son of man is come
Lastly we can see the Son of
man was manifest, so that He may destroy the yokes of the wicked one.
With everything within us we must disengage ourselves from the
merchandised hustle and bustle of marketing the birth of our Christ.
More money has been made off of our Savior’s birth than any other
person in the history of mankind. The irony of the whole fagade is that,
it’s His birthday and yet everyone else gets the gifts but Him.
He is our gift; the Savior of all mankind gave Himself as a ransom, so
that anyone that believes on him shall have life eternal. What a
merciful Savior, and a longsuffering Lord.
May I challenge you to purpose not to get drawn into the madness of
thrusting into debt for one day’s event, and then maxing out your
credit cards with ridiculous interest rates, thus entrapping yourself to
pay off for the remainder of the year. Then we pray to Jesus to help us
pay our bills that we have made on His birthday, when we gave the gift
to someone else. We certainly don’t go to them in the remainder of
the year to bail us out of the madness that we have created.
Instead this year, give our Lord the gift that He came to earth for, died
for, rose from the grave for, and ascended to heaven for. That gift is the
gift of salvation to someone lost. All of heaven will rejoice with Jesus
over one soul saved. It is the very reason of His life’s ransom.
Harness your mind during this holiday season and make a quality
decision to allow the true reason for the season to be the celebration of
the birth of our Lord.
If you are an avid reader of these monthly articles, provided by the
Phoenix, you will know by now that my most quoted scripture verse is
Matthew 25:40, “ And the King shall answer and say unto them. Verily I
say unto you. Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these
my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” If we want to bless the Savior
and really do something that will touch His heart, visit the battered
women’s shelter. Invite a person who has no family to the family
Christmas dinner. Volunteer a day at the soup kitchen. If your church
has an outreach during the holiday season, be the first to volunteer,
then keep your word.
Go and visit someone at hospice, a home for the elderly or a
hospital. Better still, pray and let the Lord lead you and guide you to the
person that He has appointed for you to reach out to.
True ministry is reaching out to people; stooping down if need be,or
reaching up. There are as many up and outers as there are down and
outers during this holiday season. Remember to reach out to those
around you. For many of us this is a season for celebrating with family,
but for many others it is a depressing time because they are separated
in some way from their families or have no family. Reach out.
This is the true reason for the season.