Every year people make a big deal out of whether certain stores use the word, "Christmas" in their advertising. Stores that use Christmas want everyone to know. They display it for the world to see. But then the other stores, well, you'd hardly know there was a special day once a year at the end of December. For them it has become winter holiday.
I'm not really the boycotting type, but seriously, I'm buying these gifts for Christmas and if your store doesn't recognize the holiday I'm certainly not going out of my way to support it. And why would I? My family celebrates Christmas and not winter. I don't even really like winter... I'm never dreaming of a white Christmas.
Just this week I read a post on Facebook which caught me off guard. At first I was outraged... but then I started thinking about it a little more. What do you think?
It's true we can't make anyone celebrate our Savior's birth. When I celebrate my wedding anniversary I don't force others to celebrate it with me and shun them if they don't. It's their choice if they want to be happy for me and my wife. And the truth is, it's everyones choice to keep Christ in Christmas. If they just want to have Christmas or winter holiday that is there loss.
That being said, I'm determined to celebrate Christ this Christmas. I'm making a strong personal effort to keep Him as the number one reason for the day. Which is exactly why I like this status update. I think if people saw Christians keep Jesus the real reason for the season they would want to embrace Christ.
Christians do ourselves a disservice when we stand for things but have inconsistant stances. Christians scream "Sanctity of marriage", but we have an insanely high divorce rate. We press sexual purity and feed our addiction of pornography at home. We yell, "keep Christ in Christmas", but beat the snot out of people to get a Nintendo Wii on Black Friday. Before we start focusing on the spec in everyone else's eye let's focus on the log in our own.
Christians say Christmas isn't about the gifts, but we don't mean it. Allie and I have decided to do Christmas a little different this year. Maybe it's something that you'd be interested in. We're going to invest in world missions through our Church's yearly Christmas offering and Samaritans purse. A large portion of the money we usually spend on Christmas gifts is going to go to feeding the hungry, sharing the gospel, freeing slaves, and providing water. Jesus was/is serious about helping those in need. Get a refresher course in Matthew 25:34-46.
I'm not against gifts at Christmas at all. So, don't misunderstand me. We're still giving toys to the kids and giving each other gifts, but we're cutting down on all the extra filler junk and knocking it down to the gifts we really want.
How are you keeping Christ in your Christmas?
