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I've been sitting here for the past four hours listening to music and getting a lot of writing done. The song "Escape From The Fire" by Bloodgood just came on, and the thought just hit me: Do we really grasp what Christ is saving us from, the eternal torment that awaits those who reject Him? 1 Corinthians 2:9 says that nobody has any clue what God has planned for those who love Him--it will be wonderful beyond any explanation or comprehension.

Wouldn't it make sense that the reverse is also true--that those who reject Him have absolutely no comprehension of the horror that awaits? It certainly seems to make sense, if we take seriously Revelation 20 and various parables Jesus told about those whose names are not written in the Book of Life being cast into the lake of fire.

Let's not get into some sort of Calvinistic mindset here that some are destined for hell by God's predetermined plan and that there's nothing we can do about it. People WILL go to hell if we don't get out and show and tell them what the truth is and where eternal life and joy can be found. We are involved in an insurgent war, if you will, with enemy troops trying to keep the prisoners they've got and trying to spread propaganda among followers of Christ that they're now saved and that there's nothing else they have to do. That's a lie straight from the Father of Lies himself. Don't believe it for a minute.

If we DON'T tell and show people that there is hope and joy and eternal life through Christ, they will go to hell, plain and simple. How we can just sit back and let that happen is totally unconscionable. I think the statistics by George Barna and Gallup and other polling organizations are well-established in showing how anemic our collective spiritual lives are when it comes to telling others about Christ and in doing the things in our own lives such as prayer, Bible study and fellowship with other believers that will bring about spiritual fruit. Are we willing to keep doing nothing at the expense of others' eternal life? Or do we value our own comfort and praise from people more than we do winning souls for Christ and helping them escape from the fire?

I wrote the piece below a few weeks ago, but now that Christmas is over I guess people have a year to think about it. :-) I hope it makes a few people think differently about what our emphasis should be on Christmas.

There have been articles in the news this week about how some "megachurches" aren't having Christmas Day services this year, even though Christmas falls on a Sunday. They are urging people to use the day to spend quality time with family on what is considered the second-holiest day on the Christian calendar (Easter, of course, being the holiest). Granted, megachurches have a lot more to juggle logistically with conducting services anyway, so I won't address that specifically, but how many of the rest of us talk about Christmas being a "family day" and forget that the holiday is all about Jesus? I find the emphasis on family to be pretty vacuous if that emphasis on family does nothing to nurture the spiritual growth of that family by focusing first on Christ.

I realize that a lot of families travel out of town to see other relatives on Christmas, but is there really anything that can draw families closer together than to come together in worshipping Christ? Let's get real: We get in the car and travel an hour to see Uncle Joe and Aunt Maggie, we open presents, we gorge ourselves on food, and half of us sit around and gossip about what's been going on while the other half fall asleep in front of the TV while watching a football bowl game or whatever the featured NBA game is. Is there a point to all of this? Does family "closeness" merely consist of geographic proximity and emotional bonding at the expense of a common spiritual experience as the foundation for the family? Emotional and family ties will only last as long as their foundation, and if Christ is not that basic foundation, what does it matter how many times family members see each other? Please don't think I'm saying time with family isn't important--it is. But will those family ties be anything more than sentiment and warm feelings if Christ is not the common thread that binds them?

Let's use my Uncle Dave as an example. To say that he's my mom's wacky youngest brother doesn't begin to describe him. He's a total nut, and we've always gotten along great (because I'm just like him). But our relationship really never went beyond the superficial until about 14 or 15 months ago when he was in the middle of a pretty nasty divorce. To say that he was depressed would be an understatement. He pretty much hit rock-bottom as he felt like his life was totally falling apart. He started asking a lot of questions--specifically about God. Soon afterward he accepted Christ. I had the privilege of baptizing him last spring. We were no longer merely uncle and nephew. Now we were brothers in Christ. Family disputes and rivalries in this world can cause relationships among relatives to constantly change. But there's nothing anyone in this world can do to diminish my Uncle Dave's new identity as my brother in Christ.

Is time with family important on Christmas? It certainly is. Is it the most important thing? I guess the bigger question should be, what are our families doing during that time to solidify our ties to each other beyond mere earthly relationships? Anyone can spend time with other family members and leave just as bored as they were before. (You know you've been there; I have, too.) Are we willing to settle for unstable earthly relationships when we could instead make Christ the foundation that holds our families together? Christmas comes around every year. Family cliques, disputes and grudges often come back around every year as well. Remember that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. I'm not suggesting you force your family to go to church this Christmas. I'm suggesting that you think about what will last. And what won't. Share Christ with your family as the only thing that will last, and you'll have family ties that will never fade away.