CHRISTMAS DEVOTIONAL A WHITE CHRISTMAS (Isa 1:18) A cartoon shows the security man walking through the door

r of the bosss office. He says, "Bad news -- something that happened in Vegas has been spotted in the Des Moines!" That would be bad news, wouldnt it? But I can tell you worse news. Everything that happened in Vegas is carried around in our conscience recognized or not. In fact, every conscious sin that we do is carried around in our conscience. God has made us that way. A reminder that one day we must all give account. Many new homes now have central vacuum systems. One lady, who was not quite up on the technology had a question for the sales person. She asked, "What do you do when all the walls fill up?" We might well ask the same question about all the guilt that has piled up like so much baggage that we carry with us everywhere we go. What can we do with it? Know what we need? We need a White Christmas. Cleansing hearts is the whole reason Jesus came; its what Christmas is all about. God says in Isa 1:18, Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. Thats why Jesus was born. God describes the reason for Christs coming this way in Luke: to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins. The angel tells Joseph in Matt 1:21, She [Mary] will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. The angel told the shepherds on the very night that Jesus was born, For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Jesus didnt come to be a great example, or to fight social injustice or to be a political activist or social reformer. He came to live and die and be raised again so He could save people from sin and guilt. He came to cleanse repentant hearts. His message was, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. He came to cleanse black hearts and make a white Christmas. The world has its own view of a White Christmas. One of our favorite movies is Holiday Inn filmed in 1942 and starring Bing Crosby. It introduced Irving Berlins song, White Christmas. It became a huge favorite the most famous secular Christmas song of all time. In 1954 a movie was made which was named White Christmas, also starring Bing Crosby. It played a prominent role in the life of a young man named Lindsay.
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Lindsays father was a religious but distant and rather severe man with high expectations. Lindsay had a lot of chores, and if he didnt get it right, his dad whipped him hard, sometimes drawing blood. Lindsay lived in fear of those beatings in his young life. Even worse were the put downs, the insults, the name-calling which usually got even worse around Christmas time. Lindsay grew up and left home, but he wandered from job to job, never able to find stability. One friend said, Lindsay was never able to find happiness. He became a hard-drinking hell-raiser who went from woman to woman and couldnt find peace or success. Finally at age fifty-one, he watched Bing Crosbys White Christmas one last time, then put a gun to his head and a bullet through his brain. Why White Christmas? Lindsay explained once when he said, I hated Christmas because of Pop, and I always will. It brings back the pain and fear I suffered as a child. And if I ever do myself in, it will be at Christmastime. That will show the world what I think of Bing Crosbys White Christmas. Ironically, sadly, that young man was Bings sonLindsay Crosby. If only Lindsay had understood that Christmas is about Jesus, not about presents and snow and facades of peace that only hide the baggage of sin and guilt lingering beneath the surface. If only he had known that though our sins be as scarlet, they can be as white as snow. A white Christmas is not about snow in the trees. Its about peace of mind and release from guilt. Its about leaving the burden of sin at the feet of Jesus. Will you have a white Christmas this year? John Bunyan, in his classic work Pilgrims Progress describes how pilgrim leaves home one day determined to get rid of the burden that he carries everywhere, but that he cannot get rid of no matter how hard he tries. He talks with various people worldly wiseman, Morality, Legality. All tell him what he must do, but it is all to no avail until Evangelist tells him he must take his burden to the cross. At long last he heads in the right direction. Listen to how Bunyan describes what happened next. I saw in my dream that the highway up which Christian was to go, was fenced on either side with a wall, and that wall was called Salvation. Up this way, therefore, did burdened Christian run, but not without great difficulty, because of the load on his back. He ran thus till he came at a place somewhat ascending; and upon that place stood a cross, and a little below, in the bottom, a sepulchre. So I saw in my dream, that just as Christian came up
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with the cross, his burden loosed from off his shoulders, and fell from off his back, and began to tumble, and so continued to do till it came to the mouth of the sepulchre, where it fell in, and I saw it no more. Then was Christian glad and lightsome . . . . as he stood looking and weeping, behold, three Shining Ones came to him, and saluted him with, Peace be to thee. So the first said to him, Thy sins be forgiven thee; the second stripped him of his rags, and clothed him with change of raiment; the third also set a mark on his forehead, and gave him a roll with a seal upon it, which he bid him look on as he ran, and that he should give it in at the celestial gate: so they went their way. Then Christian gave three leaps for joy, and went on singing: Thus far did I come laden with my sin, Nor could aught ease the grief that I was in, Till I came hither. What a place is this! Must here be the beginning of my bliss? Must here the burden fall from off my back? Must here the strings that bound it to me crack? Blest cross! Blessed sepulcher! Blest rather be The Man that there was put to shame for me! The baby in the manger is that man. And many have found the blessing of a white Christmas. How about you? Do you know Him? Give Him your burden of guilt and receive a heart that is whiter than snow. Do it now? And lets rejoice together in the true meaning of the season. Lets pray.