Money Has Its Day

Have you ever thought about how many days are named after a financial exchange?

For years, families braved “Black Friday”, the insane first official Christmas shopping day after Thanksgiving.  Then came “Cyber Monday”, which reduced the Christmas shopping traffic in box stores and city streets as people were able to purchase presents online.  There remains the first shopping day after Christmas, when we return and exchange gifts, but since the day for Christmas changes, this day doesn’t have a name of its own.

There are other days.  Everyone looks forward to “payday”, even if the pay is directly deposited into their checking accounts.  “Tax Day”, April 15^th, is our deadline for filing our income taxes, and “Tax Freedom Day”, is a moving day which represents how long we have to work to pay our taxes.  In case you are wondering, this year, “Tax Freedom Day” is April 16^th.

Christmas Day falls into a different category.  On this day, we celebrate the birth of our Savior.  Christmas Day is a day to honor a person.

But perhaps there is more.

The angel told Joseph to name Mary’s baby Jesus.  The name “Jesus” means “to rescue” or “to save.”  Jesus was going to save God’s people from their sins, and the price of salvation would involve the pouring out of His life on the cruel cross of Calvary.

The cost of our salvation was incurred through our sins.

The payment was delivered in a manger, somewhere in the little town of Bethlehem.

While it is true, the price for our salvation was not paid until that horrible day when Jesus gave up His live on a cross, the assurance of having our debt of sin erased was already on earth, rocking in the arms of a young mother.

It is only natural that we would not want to consider this truth on Christmas Day.  Christmas Day is a day to rejoice over God’s goodness.  It is a day for giving, and for showing love to everyone we meet.

There are no chocolate crosses in the candy aisle at Christmas (personally, I would prefer that there never be a chocolate cross as it seems strange to make a snack out of the instrument of torture used to kill Jesus).  But the cross was clearly visible in the manger.  The birth of Jesus was a precursor to the day He would cover our sins with His blood.  The day the payment was made and Satan was utterly crushed.

Which is probably why Satan worked so hard to destroy Jesus before He had a chance to grow up.  Satan didn’t see a baby in a manger.  He saw a payment, and the day his dark kingdom would go down in smoke.

And speaking of days…Satan will have his day too.

On that day none of the other days will matter.  “Black Friday”, “Cyber Monday”, and all the rest will be swallowed up by the “Great Day” (Revelation 6:17).

Get ready.

Some day only one day will matter.