Telling the Truth for Women

Jill Briscoe: I have no idea how many Christmas talks I've given. It is the hardest thing to do. My husband would agree with me. You think about it. Every single year you have to do a Christmas talk about Christmas, which is probably one of the most familiar things in the Bible. I have long been delivered from wanting to say something new about Christmas. I just want to talk about Christmas.

You know that the angels came to the shepherds after Mary had brought to birth the Son of God, and they sang a song to the shepherds. They heard the incredible praise of the angelic host singing, "Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace to men of goodwill." Basically, they were saying that this is a message for the old and the young, the good and the bad, the black and the white, the rich and the poor, the sick and the well, the small and the great, the godly and the godless, the clever and the dumb. It's for you and me. It's for our mothers and our fathers, our husbands and our wives, our exes and our stepkids. It's for everyone.

So, what's so joyful? What's it all about? Joy to the whole world. I remember, actually, still remember being a student, 18 years of age, in a beautiful old building in England, at Cambridge, where I was at a teachers' training college. I don't know how old our building was, but there was a tradition. The tradition was that we freshmen had a big sister. It was a girls' college in my days in the fifties when I was there. The big sister would look after us for the first year, and then we would have somebody to look after as the freshmen came in.

One of the things they did on Christmas was they didn't tell us. Nobody knew. We went to bed one night, and our big sister knocked on the door. We got up. We had just got to sleep about midnight, 1:00 in the morning. We opened the door and were handed a candle. We began to walk up and down the corridors of a 17th-century building in the incredible candlelight, singing carols. We would wind our way up and down and up and down and up and down.

I had no church experience. I wasn't a believer. I had not been raised as such, and yet, of course, I loved the tradition of what was left of the Christianity in Britain after the Second World War. I remember singing a carol, "O Little Town of Bethlehem." I didn't know the words because I wasn't used to singing hymns and carols, so I listened to the beautiful music around me. God walked into my life that night and said basically, "Listen to me."

I remember holding my candle, and we were all in our ancient white nightgowns we all wore when you're as old as me. It was really very beautiful because we all looked as though we were angels, which I assure you we were not. We were wandering around this ancient, castle-like building with candles, singing "O Little Town of Bethlehem." Because I didn't know the words to sing, I listened to others singing them to me.

"O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie! Above thy deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by. Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting Light; the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight." I knew most of that verse. "For Christ is born of Mary, and gathered all above, while mortals sleep, the angels keep their watch of wondering love."

Then the third verse: "How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given! So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of His heaven. No ear may hear His coming, but in this world of sin, where meek souls will receive Him still, the dear Christ enters in." Then the last verse: "O holy Child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray; cast out our sin and enter in, be born in us today. We hear the Christmas angels the great glad tidings tell; O come to us, abide with us, our Lord Emmanuel."

My whole attention was drawn to those words. I didn't really hear the carols. I walked for probably another half hour, an hour, before we all went back to bed and to sleep. All I could think about was, "What does it mean, the dear Christ enters in? Be born in us today? How silently, how silently the wondrous gift is given?" I began to be awakened within.

My big sister happened to be a Jesus lover and a glory giver. I didn't know that. I didn't know much about her at all. she was very sweet and nice and kind to me, but there was something about her that took her from the pack and that made her different. I had no idea at that point what it was. The next day, she said to me, "Did you enjoy that last night, Jill?" I said, "Yes, I really did. I really enjoyed it. Is that a tradition here at our college?" She said, "Yes, it is."

She said, "You know, Jesus was no ordinary child." I said, "What do you mean?" She said, "Well, he was no ordinary baby." I said, "Oh, I suppose." She said, "Who do you think he was?" I said, "I really... He was Jesus, Son of God, right?" She said, "Yes, he was no ordinary child." That's all she said. I remember going to math and English that day and thinking in between, "No ordinary child. He's no ordinary child."

I want to tell you something. Being a Christian is no ordinary thing. Being a true believer brings with it no ordinary joy, the sort of happiness that depends on happenings. Coming to know God, having Him invade your life, is no ordinary matter. That, of course, I found out within a month as I was led thoroughly and totally and irrevocably to Christ by a nurse, actually, while I was having a little stay in hospital for a week in my college town.

No ordinary child. I want to just read a couple of verses from no ordinary Christmas story, because usually we go to Matthew or we go to Luke. I want to take you to Hebrews because I want to read you about Christmas from the book of Hebrews. In the past, God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His being. He sustains all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

Christmas. That's all about Christmas. It tells us that Jesus was no ordinary child. What does it say? It says He was pre-existent, that He was with God, that He was God, that He existed before anything existed. In fact, He had some sort of a hand of making the universe, including our world. Well, He was certainly no ordinary child. Through His Son, the Father, God, made the universe and everything in it. Pre-existent.

His goings forth, the Messiah, Jesus, His goings forth are from the olden times, from the days of eternity, from eternity to eternity. Even in the Old Testament, they knew that the one God would send to save the world had actually been in existence before the world was made. It says in John chapter 1, "In the beginning was the Word," another name for Jesus. "And the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was light, and the light was the light of men. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name."

The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. I love a modern translation of that verse. "The Word became flesh and moved into the neighborhood." Ours. Our little tiny swinging globe. He was no ordinary child. He was, indeed, pre-existent. Did I believe that when my big sister asked me, "Who do you think he is?" I'd really never thought about it. At that point, Jesus Christ wasn't worth one of my thoughts.

If somebody had really pushed me on it, I would have said something stupid and glib, as my friend said when she was asked. "I think he was the illegitimate child of a Jewish dancing girl," and we all laughed. Of course, I came to know he was no ordinary child. He was God, God Himself. It says here in Hebrews that this was no ordinary child because He was divinity. He was God Himself, Emmanuel, God with us.

It says that Mary wrapped him in a blanket and laid him in a manger. Divinity wrapped in a blanket, lain in the arms of the race, slept while the Father kept silent, watching with tears on His face. The Godhead resides in a body so weak and incredibly small, while angels bereft of their treasure try to make sense of it all. Divinity wrapped in a blanket. How simple, yet simply profound. Like the kings and the shepherds, I worship and bow myself down to the ground.

Infinity chose to be finite. Omniscience made Himself known. Omnipotence laid down His power. Emmanuel made my heart home. Unspeakable gift, softly spoken. Unimaginable love made so clear. Immeasurable gift of the Father, bringing salvation so near. Divinity wrapped in a blanket. Eternity visiting time. Stopped all the clocks in the heavens as God chose to make Himself mine.

He was no ordinary child. He was pre-existent. He was divine by nature, and He was our Savior. Did you notice, and it's difficult to really get it the first time you read it, it says in the verses about Christmas in the first few verses of Hebrews that the Son reflects God's glory in everything about Him. He represents God exactly. He is the radiance of God's glory.

What does radiance mean? Webster's Dictionary says it's effulgence, it's to flash out a great light, splendor, God's glory. The Son is the radiance of the glory of God, a flawless expression of the nature of God. Let me give you a little illustration. When I was a teacher, hundreds of years ago, I had preschoolers and then I had a nursery school for 10 years, a preschool for 10 years, and then I taught all the different sorts of ages.

I do remember that I was trying to explain who Jesus was to my classroom of kids in the UK, and I noticed, and these were very young children, that they loved to draw pictures. They always drew the sun with like a round ball and those little sort of sticks out of it. That is very typical all round the world. Ask a child anywhere in the world to draw the sun and they'll draw it like that. Well, what are these? They're sunbeams, right? They are exactly the same stuff, essence, radiance as the sun. Jesus is God's sunbeam. That's what Hebrews means.

I remember writing a poem about that. I love to write poems. It started with a sunbeam, bound for a crossbeam. A sunbeam from the glory shining on the earth, beloved of the Father, begotten, not created, infinitely precious, borrowing my birth. Born a little boy beam, bound for a crossbeam. Favorite of the Father, takes a servant's place. Stripping off his royalty, robed in humanity, smile of his Father with tears on his face.

Berthed in obscurity, living in poverty. King as a commoner revealing God to men. Carrying my cross for me all the way to Calvary. Sunbeam a-dying, then shining again. So shine in my darkest days, teach me to live in praise. Deal with my doubting and use all my pain. Mirrored in my mendedness, helping all my helplessness, sunbeam of my Father, light up my life again.

The same essence as the Father, the same nature as... This is no ordinary child. This is no ordinary child. Pre-existent, divine in nature and substance. Savior. After He had provided purification for sins, it says in Hebrews. He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. So this coming of this no ordinary child had something to do with forgiveness, with the shame and guilt all of us feel, with the need to be forgiven and the need to be free to forgive those we need to forgive.

"He shall save His people from His sin," that's what the angel said. That's good news. That's good news. That's good news. Only God can deal with sin that brings shame and guilt. Only God. You can try and therapy it away. You can try and pleasure it away. Tell me if that works. So many of us are haunted by what we did do or what we didn't, what we should have done, what we could have done.

The older you get, that gets worse as we look back through our lives and we look at sins of omission in our life and we have these huge regrets. Do you know what I'm talking about? We need the forgiveness of God for the things we have done that we should not have done. Then the sins, of course, of omission and commission come to bring that guilt and shame. There is no feeling like guilt and shame, and only God can deal with that.

He has come to save us from that, to set us free, to forgive us, and then to give us the power to forgive other people. Because if you do not forgive those that have hurt you, harmed you, you are the victim of, if you don't forgive them, you'll find that this gnawing bitterness, this root of bitterness, will destroy you.

We need the freedom to be rid of it, to be able to forgive. Do you know how you'll know when you've forgiven someone? When you wish them well. Do you wish them well? You say, "Jill, you don't know what they did to me." God does, and He can work the miracle in us. What do you do with that? Why do you keep onto it? Why do you hang onto it? Don't you want to let it go? That vengeance, "I hope they get theirs." Let it go. It's going to destroy you.

Well, I've tried. I've tried to give it to God, but it won't go. It's like Velcro. You ever done that? You ever got down and "I forgive them, I forgive them, I give it to you, God," and it's still here? Right? He came to save us from the destructive power of sin in our lives, and He came to say, "I forgive you. I love you. I'm going to die for you instead of you dying, quite rightly, for what you've done in offending Me. I'm going to take all of that." This is no ordinary child. No ordinary child.

You know why God sent us a Savior? I had a lovely little Christmas card one year, and it said something like this: If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator or a supercomputer. If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist or a heavenly geek squad. If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist or some gold coins. If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer.

My greatest need and your greatest need was forgiveness, so that this horrible stuff that's between me and God, this barrier that has made Him appear far away, separated by my sin, can be dealt with. Seeing our greatest need was a forgiveness, He sent us a Savior. This was no ordinary child. Economists have been, entertainers come and go, IT folks are a dime a dozen and educators abound, but only God for Christ's sake can forgive my sin. That's why He came.

This was no ordinary baby. Some of you are sitting out there, and I know what you're thinking because I talk to people like you all the time. "Jill, all of this is based on the Bible in your hand." I want to tell you something. You're absolutely right because this is no ordinary book. It's no ordinary book. This is where I got all this information I'm giving you. You say to me, "Well, why should I believe what the Bible says? There's really good books, holy books, out there, and why is yours better than the Quran or the Hindu holy book? What makes this head and shoulders above everything else and totally unique?"

One of the things that makes this unique is prophecy, history written in advance. In the past, I just read it to you in Hebrews. In the past, God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets, the Hebrew prophets. He spoke to them and through them to us. God has spoken. The difference between Christianity and every other religion and philosophy in the world is every other religion and philosophy in the world is all about man seeking God, whereas this book is all about God seeking man.

This is no ordinary book that tells me about this extraordinary child. What is prophecy? It's about people hundreds and hundreds of years ago, in Old Testament times, saying things about the God-man, Emmanuel, Jesus, Messiah, Lord, who would be born of a virgin one day. It says so many things about his birth: where he'd be born, what family he'd come from, which little town he'd come from. Bethlehem. Two Bethlehems, but he would come, says the prophet, from Bethlehem Ephrathah, not the other one.

Now, if I told you tonight at midnight somebody will come knocking at my door, I might be right and I might be wrong. If I said he'll have a blue eye and a brown eye, I might be right, and I'm more likely to be wrong. The more details I add to this information, the more likely that by chance I'm going to be wrong. Jesus did not fulfill every single thing that was told about him by chance. It's impossible.

Somebody told me, he was a mathematician in the UK years ago when we were working with students, if you took all the prophecies about Jesus' birth, all the prophecies about Jesus' life, all the prophecies about his death, how he would die, where he would die, why he would die, when he would die, and threw them all up in the air, the chance that they would come down in the right place would be minimal. It would be like throwing the telephone book up in the air and all the names would come down in the right order.

Absolutely impossible mathematically that by chance Jesus by chance would fulfill all these things. That's why this is no ordinary book. Incredible what it says about him. One of the most amazing things of all is about the timing of his birth. Do you know about the timing of his birth? The timing of his birth according to Jeremiah and Daniel, who read Jeremiah's information about the timing when this extraordinary child would be born, there was going to be 70 weeks from the destruction of Jerusalem until Messiah came.

Jeremiah said that. Daniel picked it up. He was a contemporary of Jeremiah. Where was Daniel? He was in Persia. He was in Babylonia. All the holy men and philosophers, all the magicians, wrote it down that there would be from the destruction of Jerusalem, which came about in Jeremiah's time, 70 weeks until Messiah was born.

Do you ever wonder why the Magi came? They were philosophers. They were teachers. They were magicians. They were counselors to kings. They were just the same in Jesus' time as they had been in Daniel's time in Babylon. They were very open to different information and different religions and everything people said. The Egyptians or whoever it was was written in their annals. They had so much information.

Guess what was there? What Jeremiah had told Daniel and what Daniel, as he was so important all those years through those kings—remember Daniel's story—it was all written down and passed down and passed down and passed down. One day, the Magi looked up in heaven and a supernatural thing was happening. That said all sorts of things to them as astrologers. Apparently, it said somebody very important had been born. They began to go back through all the prophecies, not only of the Hebrew prophets they had of Daniel, but of all the other prophecies that they had from the pagan philosophers.

They found Daniel's words. 70 weeks. What did he say in the book of Daniel that meant? Jerusalem would be destroyed, then this would come and those kings and that would happen and then that and the other until the 70 weeks was done. Guess what? When they saw the star, it was 70 weeks. Why do you think they left their homes for two years and took all that time and trouble? It's no ordinary book. Do other religions have prophets? Yes. How many of their prophecies have come true? Ask them sometime. How can it be? This is the credibility of this book. Cannot be by chance.

This is no ordinary evidence as we read the Christmas story. It's credible. Do you know why? Because all the people in the Christmas story had to be convinced by a supernatural something. I remember arguing the toss about this with somebody on a plane once. All my illustrations start like that. I was on a plane. They said, "Conspiracy." I said, "Of what?" They said, "It's just a conspiracy. Mary and Joseph and those shepherds and those Magi guys, they all got together and they decided to hoodwink the whole world and say that this baby would grow up to be that Messiah that somebody had said would happen in that book, etc."

But you know, when you think about it, every person in the Christmas story didn't believe, were totally flabbergasted. Mary was overwhelmed. Here she was just going to have an ordinary life and settle down and marry Joseph, and here's an angel, and the angel says, "I've just come to ruin your life. Sorry, Mary, you're going to have a baby. Won't be Joseph's." Did Mary say, "That's fine. That's easy. Oh, yes, I understand. Fine"? She was overwhelmed, it says. She said, "But how? I'm not even married. I don't know..." She had to be convinced by Gabriel, no less.

What about Joseph? He had to be convinced by Gabriel in a vision, in a dream. He was about to divorce her. Did he believe that she was with child by the Holy Spirit? No, he didn't. Mary and Joseph didn't get together and say, "Let's get this all worked out so that when our baby comes, then it's going to appear that he's the Christ and we'll hoodwink everyone." Doesn't make sense. Wouldn't stand up in a court of law.

What about Herod? Did Herod believe? Oh, yes, Herod believed. Do you know what convinced Herod that he had to kill all those babies to make sure he got the Messiah? You think he didn't believe? Do you know what convinced him? Prophecy. He got all the leaders of the church in Israel and all these people, and he said, "When will Christ be born?" and next, "Where will Christ be born?" and they said, "Well, Daniel, 70 days... like around now, and Bethlehem." So he sends the Magi to Bethlehem and says, "You go and find him and I can come and worship him too," intending to kill him instead.

Do you think Herod didn't believe? Herod believed. The wicked believed. The godly believed. But only after God had convinced through some sort of an amazing means. Do you think Anna and Simeon were all in the conspiracy? Do you think Joseph and Mary sent a little note and said, "Simeon, if you could just come by the temple on the eighth day when we have this baby in our arms, and you take him and then say with a loud voice, 'My eyes have seen your salvation,' would you do that for us?" Do you think they did that? What about Anna? Anna comes and says the same thing. They've never met Anna. Anna's never met them. God supernaturally told those two old folks this was no ordinary child.

One of the things that convinces me when I look and I argue with people about this extraordinary book that tells me about this extraordinary baby is just the fact it's so credible. Shepherds. They had to be... That's another thing. That wasn't one person or a single person. There's a whole group of people. That's credible evidence. This is no ordinary evidence. A whole group of people, and they're all convinced by the same supernatural whatever, by the sound of the music, by the lights in the sky, and by this incredible thing. If you think all of this is a hallucination, go to Bethlehem and look in a manger in a cow stall and you'll find a baby. They found one. You think they made that up? Be a bit difficult to arrange that, wouldn't you think? Group evidence. That would have been taken in a court of law.

The shepherds had to be convinced, I assure you. They all heard the same thing. They all heard the same music. It reminds me when Jesus was resurrected, it says in the New Testament that 500 people saw Jesus alive after his death at one time. Group evidence. I get really excited at this point. I really do because I believe that Jesus Christ was God. No ordinary star in the sky, no ordinary child in the manger.

I was in Belgium years ago with a friend. I'm sure I've told this story before, but it's good to tell again. My friend lives there, he's retired there, and he belongs to a little church in the Argyle. The Argyle is like the most exclusive place people retire in Europe. A beautiful, beautiful place in Belgium along the coast. Very, very expensive homes and people who are very wealthy go there to retire. He belonged to this little church, and he invited Stuart and I to go and have a week's meetings there.

They'd arranged all sorts of interesting things for us. One morning, our host said, "Now, Jill, we have this country club for you to go to, and some of the guys and I have put this into the itinerary that we didn't tell you about. There'll be about 200 women there. In about an hour. Is that all right?" I said, "Fine." I'm getting into the car and I'm thinking, "Well, in my mind, this must be like Christian Women's Club or this must be like a Christian fellowship," so I'm thinking what do I do when I get to this country club? I'm always intimidated in those situations anyway.

I'm in the car, and my friend says to me, "Oh, did we tell you?" and my stomach went into a knot. He said, "We did really make sure that, as far as we know, not one of these ladies believes in Christ. The Argyle, like most of Europe in those up and outer echelons, is into New Age and everything else. Anything but Christianity." So I thought, "Oh my word." So we get there, and we go into this incredible place overlooking the ocean and all these extraordinary-looking women, dripping with and jangling all the things that intimidate me. Ultra-suede used to be the thing. They are all drinking on the terrace and chattering. I look around and I think, "What am I going to do?" It was near Christmas. It was coming up to Christmas, and my friend suggested I said something about Christmas.

I leave them, and I go into the dining room, and I sit there with my back so I can't see them. I open my Bible, and I'm saying, "Lord, what do I do? How do I talk to them? What should I say?" I didn't see her come in, but a beautiful English girl, tall, willowy... she was a sculptress, an artist, came round the back of me and right round to where I was sitting and sat on the floor cross-legged and looked at me. This is in the dining room. Well, that's not unusual. You're in New Age country, and she was a New Age beauty. She had everything you could imagine that told me what she was into. She had the crystals. She had all the tattoos. She had every single emblem of every single thing that Europe is all about, sadly, at this moment.

She said, "Can you help me?" I said, "Well, I'd love to if I can. What can I do for you?" She said, "I'm on a journey. I'm trying to find God." I said, "Well, I can see that." I said, "What's your name?" She said, "Victoria." I said, "Victoria, I see you're into astrology, and I see you're into channeling, and I see you're into one or two of the other things. Tell me, which of all the philosophies that you are into has helped you the most to find God?"

She thought for a minute and then she said, "Well, it's really not too hard. Astrology, of course. That's been... I felt I've got nearest when I've got really into astrology." I said, "Oh, how amazing." I said, "You know, 2,000 years ago, some astrologers left everything they had, packed up, took supplies for two years, and took an incredible journey all the way from Persia to a little town called Bethlehem. When they got there, they came to a stable, and above it was this incredible phenomena in the sky, and they went in and found a baby in some hay."

She was sitting there at my feet, looking at me with great interest and eagerness, and I suddenly realized, and I said to her, "Victoria, have you ever heard this story?" She said, "No." That's Europe. 32 years of age. I told her the story. I said, "Victoria, when you find out who that baby is, you'll have found what you're looking for. Every religion in the world, including astrology, will one day come to that manger and bow the knee and acknowledge Jesus Christ is God of God, Lord of Lords." I always remember she looked at me so wistfully and said, "How can I find him? How can I find him?" I remember saying to her, "This is no ordinary journey you're on, and this is no ordinary child. If you will put your heart and mind into it, for Jesus Christ, who is the God I worship, said, 'You will find me when you search for me with all your heart, when you really mean it.' I want to commend you because you have tried so hard. I see it in your eyes, I see it in your dress, I see it all over you. God is saying, 'Come on, Victoria, and I'll tell you who I am.'"

I don't know if she ever found the Lord. I gave her into the hands of a very able friend of mine who is a missionary there, and I'm pretty sure she would not escape her hands. So let me ask you: Who do you think He is? If you believe Emmanuel is with us, God with us, if you believe Jesus Christ is God and you believe what the angel said to the shepherds and all of that, what have you done about it?

You say, "What do you do about something you believe, Jill?" Well, you first come to the conclusion you believe, and then secondly, you commit yourself to what you believe. Like the Magi, you kneel down and you say, "This is worth everything I've got. I'm not going to give my small change and leave it in the manger. I'm going to give gold, frankincense, myrrh."

Do you know what those gifts did for Jesus? They provided for two years in Egypt when Herod was trying to kill him. They gave extravagantly. They gave everything. When an angel came and said, "Don't go and tell Herod," they went home another way. When you receive by God's Spirit, God's Spirit Himself in your heart to make all of this make sense, and you give Him all you are and all you have, do you know what happens? You'll find peace and you'll find joy.

Joy isn't God making you happy. Actually, joy is you making God happy. Just the other way round. How do you make God happy? When you love His Son. One story and I'm through. When our eldest son was going to college in Minneapolis, Stuart and I were due to be in South Africa so we could not take him up to college. His 17-year-old sister, Judy, said, "Oh, don't worry, Mom, I'll take him up. I'll mother him. I'll look after him."

His sister drove Dave up to college, but I had a friend in Minneapolis. She said, "I believe Dave's coming to college. We want our home to be his while he's here." I asked her, I phoned her and I said, "Well, Judy's bringing him up. Would you meet the kids and would you help him get settled in?" She said, "I'd love to do that." My friend did that. We did what we needed to do in South Africa, and we came back. Of course, I got on a plane as soon as I could and I went up to see Dave.

My friend, who had helped him settle in, met me. When we got in the car, she said, "Oh, it's been wonderful. David's been most weekends. He's started to bring his friends from college. He just loves to come." Then she stopped, and she said to me, "I love your son." I thought, "She's going to be my best friend." Those of you that are mothers, you know. She loved my son. When God sees you and me and the Magi and the shepherds and Mary and Joseph and Simeon and Anna kneel at the manger and say, "I love you, Lord," He says, "I love you for loving my Son. Do you know the joy that gives me?" He says. That joy is reflected right down to us. That's how you experience joy: because you're pleasing God, you're giving Him honor, you're giving Him the rightful place. Joy to the world. You give to get. You die to live. That's what Christianity is all about. That's what Christmas is all about.