Twitter
Facebook
Instagram
One of the most recognized religiously connected sounds of the Christmas season must surely be “Joy to the World.” There is something about the initial sound of those first four words that immediately lifts the soul and commands intention. The next four words, “the Lord is come,” announce the long-awaited mortal birth of our Savior, Jesus the Christ.
Oh, how we wish the entire world would heed the Godly directive of the next five words: “Let earth receive her king.” There is only one perfect form of government and that is a Kingdom with a perfectly righteous King. There are millions of men and women, Prophets and Apostles, Ministers and Teachers, past and present, who testify that indeed the New Testament Jesus was born as a babe in a manger in Bethlehem to His virgin mother Mary.
A short search will reveal that the original version of “Joy to the World,” written by Isaac Watts in 1719, was not written as a Christmas carol. It was written and published in a book of poems, “in which each poem was based on a psalm.” He used Psalm 98 to present the New Testament Lord coming to judge all men with righteous equity.
“Over a hundred years after the original poem was written, the second half of it was set to music to give us what has become one of the most famous of all Christmas carols.” It, along with other biblical scriptures, presents the world with an excellent model of how earthly governments should be established.
It appears that the poet is suggesting that we, the world, should be joyfully receptive to a judge and a government that will represent us in righteousness. Watts projects the New Testament Jesus as requesting to be our King, not demanding it so to be; “Let every heart prepare Him room.” From the very beginning of His Gospel, it is abundantly clear that we are free to choose whether or not we make “room” for Him.
We do—always—make room for another absolute long-time character associated with Christmas, Santa Claus. Surely we should not and would not remove Santa from our Christmas traditions. St. Nicholas, a kindly 4th-century Greek Bishop in Turkey who reportedly became popular by giving secretly to those in his community, is the source of the Santa Claus tradition. If the true spirit of giving results from the Santa tradition, then the world should be thankful for and promote that worthy result.
We sing to our children; He’s making a list, And checking it twice, Gonna find out, Who’s naughty or nice, Santa Claus is coming to town. We use the poem “Twas the Night Before Christmas” to encourage our children to quietly go to bed, hoping Santa will come again this year.
“Economists for the National Retail Federation tell us that retail Christmas purchases for 2025 will exceed $1 trillion for the first time ever. If that is accurate, we will exceed the $976 billion we spent in 2024 just during November and December. Online spending for gifts, food, decorations, and more will exceed $312 billion, which many retailers will rely on this year for a huge amount of their annual profits.”
Will Christmas be big temporal or big spiritual business this year?
Truly, who and what we make room for in this life is big spiritual business with everlasting consequences. Jesus’ Father is the great immortal God of Heaven. We are Jesus’ brothers and sisters. He condescended for our Father to send Him to this earth as the babe of Bethlehem. He infinitely atoned for our sins and suffered for all our pains, afflictions, and infirmities.
We the people, knowing that he will come again, should be nice, not naughty and quietly but firmly heed this invitation from the babe of Bethlehem: “Come follow me.”
Rep. Jimmy Dixon represents Duplin and Wayne counties in the N.C. House of Representatives.
