The Christmas Spirit

The Christmas Spirit

Around Christmas time, there are a rash of Christmas special, but nothing replaces, for me, are the classics like “Miracle on 34th Street,” or “It’s A Wonderful Life.” But the one most people are familiar with is from the Novel by Charles Dickens entitled “A Christmas Carol.”

It centers around the character, “Ebenezer Scrooge,” an elderly miser who was visited by three spirits on Christmas Eve; the spirits of Christmas Past, Christmas Present, and Christmas Yet To Come.

It was this film that got me thinking about the true Christmas Spirit, or the true Spirit of Christmas.

At this time of year, we hear many people talking about getting into the Christmas spirit. But what exactly is the Christmas spirit? And then, can I even speak of the true spirit of Christmas without becoming politically incorrect in our present “woke” society?

But the Spirit of Christmas isn’t something that you catch in December after the thanksgiving holidays like you would catch the common cold or the flu. Just like catching the flu is no good, catching this worldly spirit of Christmas will most likely get a person into trouble or serious debt.

I heard it said how some people love to go Christmas shopping because of all the wonderful Christmas decorations. They love to catch the Christmas spirit. Now I don’t know about you, but if I go Christmas shopping it’s usually the spirit of debt I catch, and I’ve also found myself becoming less joyful and more irritated.

Or then you have those who attend these various office Christmas parties only to catch another spirit, and that one tends to inebriate.

The spirit of Christmas means different things to different people. It is often defined in terms of an attitude, a philosophy, or a warm and fuzzy feeling. For others Christmas and the spirit of Christmas is nothing more than another holiday, time off from work, family reunion time, or the buying and receiving of gifts, most of which we never use and end up being regifted or in some garage sale a couple of years later.

But the real Spirit of Christmas has a deep, spiritual meaning and can serve as a source of spiritual renewal, as well as a shot of faith in the arm.

There are a variety of attitudes and emotions on display during this time. These reflect, many say, the spirit of Christmas such as hope and joy, but are these the true Spirit of Christmas?

Now, while we really don’t want to catch the spirit of Christmas like I just got finished describing, what we do want to catch are the attributes of the Holy Spirit, Who, by the way, is the real Spirit of Christmas. But these attributes are known as the Fruit of the Holy Spirit.

The Apostle Paul lists these out for us in his letter to the Galatian church. He said, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22-23 NIV)

I would also like to add one more to this list, if I could without becoming heretical, and that is the attribute of giving, because on this day we celebrate the greatest gift ever given, and that is God’s gift of His Son, Jesus Christ.

And while all these attributes are great, they aren’t the real Spirit of Christmas. The Real Spirit of Christmas is no One less than the Holy Spirit. This is what heaven declared.

“The angel answered, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.’” (Luke 1:35 NIV)

The use of the word “overshadow,” talks about the creative and maintaining power of God as found in the very beginning at Creation where it says that Holy Spirit hovered over the waters bringing about God’s design.

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” (Genesis 1:1-2 NKJV)

Further, the idea of casting a shadow over something also takes us back to the 40-year wilderness experience where God’s presence and power accompanied the Israelites in the form of a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night.

And so it was back when Jesus was born that the power of the Most High, the power of the Highest, the power of the Holy Spirit cast His glorious presence upon the womb of Mary, placing inside of her the seed of God, the Second Person of the Godhead, Jesus.

Therefore, I’d like to take a look at the what is sometimes referred to as the Mary Miracle, where we are told from the Scriptures just what was to happen. In other words, God spelled out long before the birth of His Son, the Messiah, which was fulfilled to the letter with the birth of Jesus there in Bethlehem.