So Go Eat Some Fudge

Merry Christmas to all my readers! You’ve blessed me so much in faithfully reading and sharing my posts, and I’m exceedingly thankful. I love Christmas—and though the atheists want to erect Satanist shrines next to our nativities, and though the materialists have entirely desecrated not only Christ’s advent but also the legacy of St. Nicholas––and I wanted to write out a few of my thoughts as to how you should celebrate these next few days.
Sadly, many Christians have a perception of God that he is the ultimate Ebenezer Scrooge. He is a penny pinching miser. Or He’s a grinch, seething with wrath over all the merriment and joy of the residents of who-ville. Or, they think He is like Michelle Obama, chiding them for choosing fudge over celery. I think it is important to remember that our God is the God of blessings, “who daily loadeth us with benefits (Psa. 68:19)”! He is not leaning over us, clucking His tongue and wagging His head in disappointment as we enjoy another slab of fudge while opening a gift from someone who loves us deeply.
We are Christians after all. Christians are those who have received with joy the blessings found under a tree. God sent His Son to earth, and it was good news of great JOY! That joy was purchased by suffering upon a tree. Christ endured the wrath of God, the punishment and curse of sin, and procured from us not merely forgiveness of sins but the bestowing of abundant life!
I fear that gnostic thought is resurgent in the Church. Gnosticism says material things are bad, only spiritual things are important. The Gnostics knew that mankind’s problem is that he all too often mistakes God’s blessings for God Himself. So they swing the opposite direction and forgo all of God’s blessings, thinking that in so doing they will find and please God, because of their self-abnegation. Both directions are erroneous! It is true that if you aim at earth you get hell, but it is not true that by ignoring earth that you can win heaven. Heaven is a gift, and it is freely given, and must be received. Yet, in receiving Heaven’s realities, we are also given all things to freely enjoy (see 1 Tim. 6:17).
Never settle for fudge, presents, wassail, or mere earthly merriment; but also, don’t skip over it, assuming you can earn God’s favor by your dour faced “grinchiness”. God has a thousand blessings that He desires you to enjoy this Christmas, and all of them are to instruct us of His great goodness. If you think fudge is good, wait until you behold Christ in all His glory. Fudge is only a stepping stone, a hint, a crumb of how glorious it shall soon be, when our King makes His second advent. He is not a Scrooge or a Grinch, grumbling over how much fun and joy you are having. He is likely thinking, “They’re not having quite as much fun as I intend them to have!”
Now, we must bear in mind that every blessing, if mistaken for the Blesser, can easily become a curse. Fudge is a great blessing, but if your whole diet consists of fudge, it will soon become a curse of obesity, high cholesterol and cellulite. Every blessing must be received with gratitude and thanksgiving, and MUST be enjoyed, not for its own sake, but for the sake of the One who gave it! So go eat some fudge, give and receive presents, feast heartily, with rosy cheeks of jollity; all while remembering that it was purchased by the greatest sufferings that ever a man endured, by the most innocent man that ever was. Abide under that tree of Calvary, and receive the manifold blessings that spill forth from the veins of that holy child, who was born to die, and yet born to give us the second birth! Once more, a very merry Christmas!