" Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace towards me who please God ". Luke 2:14

Yet another Christmas is at hand - the last one in this millennium. Christmas always beckons the new year and this time Christmas opens the door wide open for the third millennium.

When we celebrate Christmas we all believe that we celebrate the birthday of Jesus Christ. But Jesus was not born on Dec 25. The then king Augustus Kaiser cannot ask the whole country to go their home towns to register their names in the freezing cold of December nor can the shepherd keep watch over their flocks in the frozen field outside. From all available information, Jesus was probably born in May/June.

Though the concept is wrong, idea is novel - celebrating the birthday of the Great King!

When Jesus was born, we read in the second chapter of Gospel according to Luke, that three wonderful things happened.

• There was the appearance of a new star indicating the birthday of a great king.
• There was a proclamation by the angel that a saviour is born in the city of David for the whole men. and
• There was worship by a multitude of the host of angels - " Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace unto men who please God. "

This is a peace therapy:
You need peace of mind, rest for the body, comfort for the soul? Worship God and give praise and glory to Him and you will have peace in return. When God is glorified, man is at peace.
Now who gets peace? - Those who please God.
And how do you please God? To please God, man should undergo a change - a renewal - Renewal in Life. This requires a renewal in thoughts and that through renewal of the hearts. Renewal of the heart is brought about by the word of God. Jesus once said, " You have to be born again." John 3 : 3, 16.

Side by side with the Christmas celebration, there is another practice - make a manger and keep Jesus inside the manger. This is the greatest mistake that we make every year. Jesus once born in Bethlehem and laid in a manger is proclaimed as Lord, King and Saviour (Luke 2:11). And he should not be confined to the manger or the alter of a church or in sculpture but be crowned as king and Lord in our hearts. Jesus should be the centre of our hearts, centre of our life, centre of our family and centre of our work place. Then we please God and we have peace in return.

May the Lord reign our hearts, direct our life and fill our minds with peace beyond human understanding in this new year of the third millennium

- Maranatha!

Use the Online Bible for immediate reference to the verses