Monday, December 2, 2019

Keeping Christ in Christmas


Once again, the Christmas season is upon us.  The stores are adorned with red and green; the radio stations fill the airwaves with our holiday favorites and children everywhere are dropping not-so-subtle hints as to what they might like under the tree.  It is also time for people to break out their Keep Christ in Christmas pins and car magnets.  Driving back from Florida last week I noticed several vehicles with these magnets strategically placed for others to see.  It made me wonder, “Exactly how would one take Christ out of Christmas?”

As “all things have been created through Him and for Him…and by Him all things hold together (Col 1:16–17) it seems unlikely that we could ever take Him out of Christmas – or anything else for that matter.  I’m sure the point of these car magnets is that we should (especially during Christmas) acknowledge Christ.  Given the rampant secularization of Christmas, it is an understandable sentiment.  If A Charlie Brown Christmas were to be remade today, Linus’ presentation of the Birth of Jesus from Luke’s Gospel (2:8-14) would undoubtedly be omitted.  The Nativity has been replaced by reindeer and elves, just as the empty tomb has been replaced by bunnies and eggs.

Part of our problem might be that we have compartmentalized Christmas and reduced it to a story about the birth of Jesus.  It is so much more than that.  It was the moment when the Eternal interjected Himself into the temporal, when God took on flesh.  It is the moment in history when God put in motion His plan for the salvation of mankind.  The only way we can really understand the Baby in the manger is by remembering the Man on the cross.  It is in His death, burial and resurrection that His birth is shown in its true light.  This is the real Christmas story.

As Christians lament the current situation, we must face a hard reality – this decades long trend cannot be reversed with pithy sayings or bumper sticker theology.  If we are really serious about keeping Christ in Christmas it starts by making sure WE keep Him in New Year’s Eve, as well as Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, the 4th of July, Labor Day and all of the other days that don’t have special names.  It's unreasonable for us to expect a secular world to acknowledge Christ in December if we are not intentional about acknowledging Him the other 11 months of the year.  They are just following our lead. 

However, if our lives don’t truly reflect our love of and submission to Jesus then our attempts to lead others will prove futile.  Face it, the “Jesus is the Reason for the Season” pin seems a bit insincere when we are obsessing over the accumulation of more consumer goods just like everyone else.  We are supposed to be different.  Our faith in Christ cannot be limited to simple catchphrases, it must be exhibited in the lives we live – every day.  We cannot simply tell others to “Keep Christ in Christmas” we must show them how.

Father,
I pray that I will be salt and light in a world that desperately needs to know the Savior; that I will show Your love and forgiveness, not my judgement and wrath.  Please help me to glorify You in my actions and words this Christmas season.  Allow others to see Christ in me that You might be glorified and others come to know how much You love them. Please forgive me where we have failed You.   
In Christ Name, Amen.

May you all have a blessed Christmas.

In His Service,