Christmas Time With Ellen G White - 12/19/00 06:39 PM
Christmas time should be a happy time for all people; especially for Seventh Day Adventists, and specifically for Sabbath School officers, teachers and members, because we, of all true, Christian people, can keep the true spirit of Christmas:
“Christmas time is coming. May you all have wisdom to make it a precious season. Let the older church members unite, heart and soul, with their children in this innocent amusement and recreation, in devising ways and means to show true respect to Jesus by bringing to Him gifts and offerings. Let everyone remember the claims of God. His cause cannot go forward without your aid.
Let the gifts you have usually bestowed upon one another be placed in the Lord’s treasury. In every church, let your…offerings be placed upon your Christmas trees. Let the precious emblem ‘evergreen,’ suggest the holy work of God; and His beneficence to us, and the loving heart work will be to save other souls who are in darkness. Let your work be in accordance with your faith.”
“Let the several churches present to God Christmas trees in every church, and then let them had thereon the fruits of beneficence and gratitude, offerings coming from willing hearts and hands, fruits that God will accept as an expression of our faith, and our great love to Him for the Gift of His Son, Jesus Christ.
Let the evergreen be laden with fruit, rich and pure, and wholly acceptable to God. Shall we not have such a Christmas as heaven can approve?”
“Now brethren, let us on Christmas, make special effort to come before the Lord with gifts and grateful offerings, for the Gift of Jesus Christ as a redeemer to the world. Let nothing now be spent needlessly, but let every penny that we can spare be put out to the exchangers.
Satan has had his way in managing these occasions to suit himself. Now, let us turn the current heavenward, instead of earthward. Let us show, by our offerings, that we appreciate the self-denial and the Sacrifice of Christ, on our behalf. Let God be brought to remembrance by every child and parent, and let the offerings, both small and large, be brought into the store house of God.”
“The true spirit of Christmas, is not in receiving gifts, but in giving gifts. In all of our giving, let us pause to give, not just to our loved ones, our friends, or our neighbors; but let us remember to set aside by careful planning, and by purposeful budgeting, a generous gift at Christmas time for [our] best Friend, Jesus Christ, in whose honor this day is supposed to be kept.
Strange it seems that we so thoughtlessly exchange gifts with each other at Christmas time, altogether forgetting to give liberal gifts to Him in whose memory this day is everywhere observed. We will willingly spend large sums on gifts for our loved ones and friends, scarcely pausing to remember the Christ, whose birth over 1900 years ago we once each year celebrate. Heaven’s admonition at Christmas time is:
‘You that have means, who have been in a habit of making donations to your relatives and friends, until you are at a loss to know what to invent that will be new and interesting to them; seek to put your ingenuity to the test, as well as your influence, to see how much means you may gather in, to advance the work of the Lord. Let your skill and your capacity be employed to make the coming Christmas one of intense interest; paying your addresses to the God in heaven in willingness and grateful offerings.
Follow no longer the world’s customs. Make a break here, and see if this Christmas cannot show thousands of dollars flowing into the treasury, that God’s storehouse may not be empty.’
“You may not be recompensed on earth; but you will be rewarded in the future life, and in that, abundantly. Let those who have for so long planned for self, now begin to plan for the cause of God, and you will certainly have increased wisdom. Let the conscience be enlightened, and the love of Truth and of Christ take the place of idolatrous thoughts and love of self.”
“Let there be recorded in the heavenly books such a Christmas as has yet been never yet been seen because of the donations which shall be given for the sustaining of the work of God, and the upbuilding of His kingdom.’”
** These quotations appeared the first time in the Review And Herald, Dec.9th, 1884, in an article that was requoted in the Ministry Magazine, December, 1950.
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Soul winning is soul loving.
see 1 Thes.5:14-15).
Your brother in Christ
David T. Battler
