December, 1941
T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
456
The Blessedness of Christmas By D. F. CAWLEY London, England
of the love of God for sinful man. “Love came down at Christmas, Love all lovely, love divine.” Can we not see that when this wel come blessedness of life sets in, then there comes happiness, and where there is happiness, who misses pleasure ? Why, the simplest things of life yield the maximum of pleasure. There is an old French proverb which says that the man who seeks pleasure will never find it; but the man who does his duty will find pleasure hunting him down. What would have happened had not this glory of God’s Jove broken over the face of the earth? Here is the glory that binds the earth together. Let us, then, look at this very simple but beau tiful and great text: "God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Paul always lived at Christmas time. Every morning Christmas broke for him, for the Lord of Christmas came down every street that he trod. What a love ly word that word “commendeth” is! God commends His love to us in Christ Jesus, who came on Christmas morning to bear man’s burden of sin, to die ugon the cross “that Hg might become man’s Redeemer,
And thus there comes the sense of good will. How many old people have been blessed! How many children have been made happy! How many Christmas cards have gone through the post, car rying with them messages of cheer and blessing! Many will say that these things are what Christmas represents, and, in a measure, they would not be wrong. The True Glory of Christmas But where is the blessedness of Christmas ? Where is the sublimity, where is the glory that really consti tutes Christmas? It is certainly not in pleasure, though it does not exclude the thought of pleasure. You cannot watch a little kitten playing without knowing that God meant the world to be a happy world. If the glory that constitutes Christmas is not to be found merely in happiness and in general well-being, where, then, is it to be found? It is to be found in the words, of my text: “God commendeth his love toward us.” It is love that makes Christmas; it is the love of God that constitutes the glory of Christmas. Miss this, and you miss the best. You and I, then, would do well to "go back seeking the glory which really constitutes Christinas, the glory
“ God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8.) T h o m a s c a r l y l e teiis us that there are three degrees of life: < One is that of pleasure; the other is that of happiness; but greater than either of these is the third, and that is blessedness. Now there is the Christmas that brings with it mere pleasure; and there is the Christmas which brings with it rare happiness; but there is also the Christmas that brings with it glory and blessedness. Quite a number of people will find one or other of the first two, but will they find the third? For many people, mer riment constitutes the very heart of Christmas. For others there is the hap piness of reunion, the meeting again of old friends, and the making of gifts; and it may be also, the happiness of ending wrongs. [The sermon which composes this article was preached in the Metropolitan Tabernacle in the heart of London, known to multitudes of Christians as “ Spurgeon’s Tabernacle .” Word has come from England describing the heavy bombings of this building. Dr. Caw ley is a prominent Baptist preacher and author, served as a missionary in India , and has been a lecturer at Spurgeon’s Col lege .— E ditor .]
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