On the Sixth Day

       As a child, life is very black and white. High heels and earrings are sinful because your mother doesn't wear them, and all processed foods are disgusting because you don't eat them. When I was younger, I had a loudly proclaimed prejudice against any music that was written after the year 1850, and because of this, I wouldn't admit that any song written then was good. Why, because I didn't like rock 'n roll, blues, jazz, or country. Thus, I determined because these styles had gained popularity in recent years, I must not like any music written in recent years. Of course I  didn't realize that I was committing a serious, 'part to whole' fallacy, and would only listen to the old stuff. What I didn't realize, was that some of the songs I already liked, such as "How Great Thou Art," and "When Peace Like a River," were written in the modern era, plus I began to realize that I needed to broaden my horizons when I caught myself reading the date of a song in order to determine whether I liked it.

     Now that I am older, I am willing to admit that it's the style I have a problem with, not the date of publication. Beautiful sons such as, "Because He Lives,"  "The Blacksmith of Brandywine," "Time to Say Goodbye,"  "In Christ Alone," and "O Church Arise," are only a few of the modern songs I have come to love. It's funny how God is the one who actually defines who we are, and we, in an effort to be our own master, just box ourselves in. It's not bad to prefer one thing over another, but we need to be careful we don't let the baby pour down the drain with its bathwater. I missed out on a lot of beautiful songs, because my pride wouldn't let me "like" a modern song. We tend to make generalizations in life, and then to be refuse to budge even when we're spiting ourselves. We so hate to admit we're wrong about something, we'll stand sulking in a corner, rather than just accept that we're not perfect and join in the fun.

  A certain Christmas song written in recent times puts it very well, when it says, "Long lay the world in sin and error pining, 'till He appeared and the soul felt His worth."
   Christ came to free us from the self inflicted curse under which we were pining. So this year, as Christmas fast approaches, and some of us have bad Christmas associations, let us resist the temptation to throw out Christmas because of that. During battle, armies will often set up diversions in order to distract the opposing side while the real attack can gain an advantage. In the same way, when we suffer from the consequences of sin, the Devil will be all too ready to send out a diversion. For me, it was modern music. For others it will be different; government health care, gun control laws, poor sanitary conditions, not enough money, too small of a house, the football stadium at the back of one's property, whatever it may be, to try to get us to quarrel over diversions while the real problem, the snaring of men's souls into eternal damnation, keeps right on going.

  Friends, maybe Christmas was originally set up as a Christian compromise of pagan Saturnalia; perhaps some people spend far more time shopping for gifts than loving their neighbor, but don't forget that there is nothing wrong with having a season where commemorate the birth of the One who came to release us from the cords of Satan, and set us free into the brilliance of His presence.

  What diversions are you fighting this season? Consider it perhaps, while listening to this majestic, modern Christmas song, "O Holy Night."