TO CHRISTMAS OR NOT TO CHRISTMAS

Written : 21 December 2015

Christmas-time has always been associated with love, tolerance and peace on earth. It still is, but today a lot of emphasis is on what we shall eat, drink and what gifts we should give, not to mention what gifts we hope to receive...! All of this is not wrong, but it's a question of emphasis and intention.

There are many Christians who have decided that they do not want to celebrate Christmas anymore. I know, because I used to be one of them! They base their conviction on the fact that 25/12 used to be a pagan feast before it became Christ's "birthday party" and that Christmas trees were connected with the pagan activities associated to the pagan feast.

Though I respect the conviction of Christmas-practising and non-Christmas-practising Christians alike, I would like to ask you to just read the following with an open mind.

A few days ago I was making dinner and was thinking about the whole Christmas-or-not thing. I started peeling a big potato and found a large black patch under the skin where the potato had "gone bad". Suddenly Holy Spirit said:

"If this was the only thing you had left to eat today, would you throw away the whole potato, or simply remove the bad patch and still eat the rest?"

The answer was rather obvious!

Then He said:

"Christmas is the same. There still is a lot of good in it. Just discard the part that has gone bad"

You see, the problem with Christmas has, in essence, nothing to do with the Christmas tree or even Santa Clause, but everything to do with man's sinful intentions. When the pagan feast was first transformed into a Christian event, it was great, because it had become an opportunity to tell people about Christ's gift of Life to us and, since, it has gone VIRAL on a global scale!

Christmas has such a wonderful potential for evangelising the world - why waste it? Christmas wont stop because Christians refuse to celebrate it, it will just become a pagan festival again.

Last night we watched the animated movie "Rise of the Guardians". The amazing message was this: if we take good, clean fun and fantasy out of the world, fear will dominate.

Us grown-ups have forgotten what it is like to have an over-active imagination! God says in His Word that He wants us to be like kids: innocent, spontaneous, joyful, trusting, imaginative... He wants us to have fun!

You must understand that the devil is trying his very best to steal our joy. If he can stop Christians from having fun, they will eventually lose their faith too. I know my kids, if I forbid them to have fun, they will become depressed! If I tell them faith is just about doing serious stuff, they will definitely NOT want to believe. I'm not telling you to compromise, I am telling you to discard what has "gone bad" and KEEP what is WHOLESOME!

We decorate our Christmas tree at home using objects that remind us of Christ. We bring the Christmas story to life with the kid's toys on Christmas morning. We give small gifts, mostly to the kids, reminding ourselves that the greatest gift ever was His gift of Life to us. We have a great meal, some good wine and, if possible, invite somebody over who is all alone for Christmas. We put a lot of fun into Christmas without ever forgetting what the essence of Christmas is for us.

If God wanted us to be set apart from the world, He would have taken us out a long time ago. But we are still here for some reason! He asks us to live in this world in such a way that the world will recognise that we are different and in a way that will make them want to be like us!!! So let’s be different this Christmas, not by removing Christmas and judging those who enjoy it, but by putting Love, tolerance and peace back into it!