“Christmas” Everyday
http://thechosenchick.wordpress.com/2010/12/12/christmas-everyday/
My Grandma has looked at me like I was crazy three times in my adult life. The first was when I cut off my shoulder length straight hair for a teeny weeny afro. The second, when I told her I didn’t want to eat pork anymore. And on Thanksgiving, when I told her I wasn’t putting up a Christmas tree. “Christmas trees make you happy,” she said, sort of playing, but there is some truth behind her thinking. This is the “holiday season” where there is this ideal of Christmas trees, chestnuts roasting on an open fire, presents we all cannot afford and for what…the celebration of Jesus’ birth? If we think about it, do we really feel like we are honoring Jesus spending money we don’t have and decorating our homes with symbols that we really don’t understand? We have done these things our whole lives; the tree, the presents, the Santa (don’t even get me started on Santa), and at the end of the day, many people who celebrate Christmas every winter don’t even believe in or have a relationship with Jesus.
Christmas is a cultural holiday, fueled by business that generates billions of dollars every year. You can watch a whole day of TV this time of year, and see commercials, movies, sitcoms and the like that talk about Christmas, but don’t talk about Christ. Talking about Christ is offensive, and even our thin celebrations of his birth like nativity scenes and school plays have been stripped of any mention of Jesus Christ. So why do so many people celebrate Christmas, a supposed celebration of Jesus being born, and they don’t know anything about Him, or believe He was born in the miraculous manner He was? You don’t see the whole nation celebrating Ramadan or other “religious” holidays, because we don’t believe in it. It doesn’t discount others beliefs, it is just not a national belief.
Anyone who has ever worked in retail knows that the Christmas season is the absolute worst time of year to be of service to anybody. People get more rude and mean the closer it gets to December 25. It is no time of relaxation, fun and family because you are constantly working. Do any of us ever really experience this so-called “Christmas spirit” that we are being told we should be feeling right now? We are waiting and waiting for the day to arrive, and we may have one quick prayer at dinner time, we rip open a couple presents and the Christmas spirit is over. Is that really glorifying God?
What if we celebrated the birth of Jesus everyday. Given the fact that we have no way of know when Jesus was born, and there is no place in the Bible that says that we should be celebrating what we know now as “Christmas,” I think it is up to the body of Christ to let the nonbelievers know what Jesus’ birth means to us all, not just on a government appointed day, but any and every day. Why can’t we buy gifts for those we love, have family get togethers and love on one another in Jesus’ name any day of the year, and not just December 25. We don’t need a tree, or egg nog or Santa Claus to do that. Let us not be so caught up in the man made holiday that wants after our money. Let’s remember that Jesus was sent here to set us free, love us and in turn we share that with everybody. And please, please, please, stop teaching your kids about Santa!
But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out,“Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.
Galatians 4:4-7
