My first Christmas as a Christian was in 1973. It means 2022 will be the 50th Christmas that I celebrate since becoming a follower of Jesus Christ.

It was the night of Sunday, September 2, 1973 when I became a Christian. I was 19 years old and I remember much of that night fairly well. I had been to church that evening with the girl who would eventually become my wife, having met her earlier that year. I had taken her out to a movie in August and she then invited me to come to church which I did. After another church service that Sunday night we spent some time in the kitchen of her mother and father's house where I asked her a lot of questions about her belief in Jesus. In particular I had a lot of questions about the second coming (the return) of Jesus Christ which I had just heard about. I remember that it was a kind of friendly interrogation. She would answer a question, I would ask another and she had many answers being a Bible college student. After wearing her out with questions I got into my car to go home which was about a 10 minute drive.

On that very short trip home I became a Christian. The Bible tells a story of the conversion of another individual while he was on a road trip. The story is about Saul of Tarsus who became the Apostle Paul.

Acts 9:1-6 New International Version - UK

Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?'

'Who are you, Lord?' Saul asked.

'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,' he replied. 'Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.'

There is more to that story if you want to read it:

On my journey home, I did not see a great light and I did not hear a voice from heaven. But I did become utterly convinced that Jesus was the Son of God, that the Bible was real, and that I needed to follow Jesus.

What cemented that decision very quickly was the fact that a number of my friends were back at my parents house and they were having a party. As was often the case, my parents and sisters were about 3 1/2 hours away at the cottage where we spent many summers. With no one at home but me for the labor day weekend, my friends and I decided that my house would be party central. When I came through the door I promptly informed everyone that I could no longer live like this, and that the party was over and that everyone needed to go home.

One of those friends, a couple of years older than me, then sat with me at the kitchen table. He was convinced that he was going to straighten me out. Unlike me, he had been raised in an evangelical church and his parents were believers; he was not. Feeling at liberty to talk boldly, because he was about half as drunk as usual, he proceeded to tell me how he had seen Christianity all his life, how it was not real and how that I would eventually find out that it was all fake. He preached at me with passion. As it turned out, I preached back at him. I remained resolved and so everyone had to pack it in and leave. My journey as a Christian began with a bang.

As a "new born" Christian, Christmas that year was very different for me. All during my life, to that point, Christmas had been a big deal around our house. The tree was erected and it was loaded up with gifts. Family came and there was the big Christmas dinner. The thing I noticed very quickly was that it was all about everything but Jesus. Some years we went to a Christmas eve candlelight service at the Presbyterian church that my folks attended, but that was always a drag for me. I could not wait to get home and get to bed so that we could start the big day as early as possible. I remember nights when I could barely sleep, excited about what was to come. Once again, everything big about that day had nothing to do with Jesus.

It struck me so much so that after we were married the next year, I eventually became opposed to putting up a Christmas tree in our house to celebrate Christmas. As a new Christian it all seemed to be a complete distraction from the real meaning of the day, and for years I was determined to make sure that the day was about Jesus and not Santa Claus, the tree, the gifts, etc.

Over time my wife got her tree back and our home's celebration of Christmas has become more traditional. That is fine with me as I began to understand this passage of scripture.

Romans 14:1-9 New International Version - UK

Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarrelling over disputable matters. One person's faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.

One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.

Those instructions were conveyed to Christian believers by the same "Saul of Tarsus" who was converted on the road to Damascus and who became Paul the apostle. He was known as the apostle to the gentiles because like all early Christian leaders he was and remained a Jew. It took almost a decade after the death and resurrection of Jesus before the early Christian church admitted Gentiles. This happened after the conversion of Cornelius, a Roman centurion who became a follower of Jesus after listening to the preaching of the Apostle Peter. That story is found in Acts 10, which follows Acts 9 (above).

Back to the instructions in Romans. How you celebrate or do not celebrate Christmas is something that is, in the grand scheme of things, not that important. There is no "official" way to celebrate or not celebrate the day. Christmas is what you personally make of it. What is important to me is the Christ of Christmas. As with that first Christmas, the 50th Christmas is special for me because I know that God sent his son into the world so that he would eventually die for my sins. His death was what paid my debt to God for my sins. By believing in him, I have found peace with God and have now been adopted into his family.

Romans 8:14-17 New International Version - UK

For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, 'Abba, Father.' The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs - heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

So as I get ready to celebrate my 50th Christmas as a Christian, let me wish each and every one of you the very best of the season. May the God and father of the Lord Jesus Christ bless you and your family during this holiday.