Christmas

Walking through our local big box retail store in late November I was intrigued by the array of “Christmas” T-shirt’s on display. Every single one of them was either making some sort of fun or folly of Christmas. Now I enjoy having fun just as much as anybody, but there’s a big difference between having fun and making fun of something. I found these shirts in particular poor taste:

I wondered how did we get here?

A quick search on the internet about “Christmas” returns a lot of interesting information. For one, “Christmas literally means “Christ’s mass,” which originated from the Old English term, “Cristes Maesse.” It was sometime during the 4th century that a decision was made by the early church to celebrate the birth of Christ annually. They chose the date of December 25, which also happened to coincide with the Roman Saturnalia festival, a traditional pagan festival. Why the 4th century church chose to combine the celebration of the birth of the Savior of the world with a pagan festival is perhaps a discussion for another day, but suffice it to say that this is, in fact, what history has recorded.

Fast forward to today, it seems that while Christmas has long been a beloved holiday to most everyone, it holds different meanings to different people.

For the believer in Christ, it’s all about Christ.

For the unbeliever, it has nothing at all to do with Christ.

For the child or the young at heart, it’s a time of wonder, expectation, and excitement. It’s sweet in terms of giving gifts to our loved ones and the joy we have in watching their excitement however, their excitement is quite likely centered around the gifts. Have you first shared or read the Christmas story from the Bible? Do your children and family know why we exchange gifts at Christmastime? What about those who can’t afford to buy gifts? Or, is there possibly too much emphasis on the giving of expensive gifts in your family?

For the retail business owners, big box stores, and online retail giants, it’s a time of huge sales profits as the public spends billions of dollars buying gifts for their loved ones, many of which who go into debt buying those gifts. Bottom line, the buying and selling of gifts has morphed into a multi-billion dollar secular commercialization of Christmas.

Somewhere along the line, it seems that the importance of the miraculous birth of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, has been edged out by the the fun and the folly, and the buying and the selling.

Maybe we could place the blame on the advertising industry that is constantly in the business of promoting bigger and better products.

Maybe we could blame our government agencies who removed Nativity scenes from government properties.

Maybe we could blame the school boards who removed Bibles from schools and banned teachers from talking about the Christian faith and Jesus Christ.

Maybe we could blame the big corporations who promote whatever the latest woke ideology is, but never ever mention anything about Jesus Christ.

Maybe we could blame the progressive liberal churches, apostate churches, and the prosperity churches; all of which preach a false gospel.

Maybe we could blame the parents who fail to raise their children in a Christian environment or even tell them why Jesus was born or what He did on the cross on our behalf.

But the truth is,

Satan is the god of this world and is the major influence on the opinions and actions of the unbelievers all around the world today. Satan is hell bent on keeping people from coming into a saving relationship with Christ.

And,

As it is written:

There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one. Romans 3:10-12

And because of this,

Until one becomes born again through the gift of faith, the repentance of sin, and trust in Jesus Christ alone, Christmas will remain in their eyes, to be all about the fun and the folly, and the buying and the selling.

So while Christians celebrate the birth of Christ at Christmastime, nonbelievers celebrate everything but Christ.

All the more reason that Christians need to pray for those who do not yet know Christ, and to speak up, not just at Christmastime but anytime the Spirit leads.

We need to tell everyone that,

Christmas is all about Christ. It’s the integral part of God’s perfect plan of salvation through Jesus’ incarnate birth.

That’s why we give gifts at Christmastime, in honor of the gifts given to the Christ-child by the Magi.

“And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.” Matthew 2:11

Jesus was the greatest gift ever given; His birth is worthy of celebration!

Amen and Merry Christmas