“Merry Christmas!”

“Merry Christmas!”(I Tim.3:16).
LORD, God, Almighty, thank you for the love you have shown to an unworthy person like me.
We are born limited, imperfect, movable, and mortal. We cannot therefore speak confidently about the unlimited, perfect, immovable, and immortal. It takes who has been there to know what it is like to be there. With his foreknowledge of our ignorance, Jesus always used alliteration to describe the kingdom of heaven.
He always parabolically said, “The kingdom of heaven is like…” He did this because we human beings could not have understood otherwise.
It’s all a mystery. A mystery is “something that is difficult or impossible to understand or explain.”
Even godliness is a mystery. Godliness is piety. True godliness, like everything in the world, is a reflection or an image of the original. All the beautiful work of arts, architecture, and designs that we admire are mere replicas of the original, which come from the imagination of the conceiver.
Talking about godliness, Paul says, “Beyond all question, the mystery from which true godliness springs is great: He appeared in the flesh, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory.”
Who therefore can explain such a mystery or attain such godliness?
Tertullian said,
something like, “I believe because it is unfitting or impossible.” He used this to defend the irrational aspects of Christianity against philosophers. The enlightenment thinkers distorted Tertullian to say he said, “I believe because it is absurd.”
However, our focus is on Tertullian’s intent that “the very unfittingness or impossibility of Christian doctrines (like the incarnation) was a testament to their divine, rather than human origin…”
Christian piety is divinely ordained through the incarnation. The testimony about Christ from prophecy through the incarnation, his earthly ministry, death, and resurrection into glory are beyond question to those who, by faith, believe in what they have heard about him.
Our piety(godliness) is to draw from his example by living for others through sacrifice and self-surrender.
Today, we commemorate that love came down from heaven in the form of a baby. Celebrating godliness without love is a scam! Love through mere lip-service is a greater scam!
Christmas payer: Holy Spirit, make us happy, joyful, and cheerful, but above all, help us to show practical love. Amen!
Merry Christmas and a very fulfilling New Year in advance! Peace be with!
Rev Babila Fochang.
25/12/2025.