Losing Christmas

“Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

2 Corinthians 9:7

I can remember as a small boy being full of so much anticipation and excitement for Christmas. Every year we would run down the stairs and look at all the gifts under the tree. It was as if the whole world dumped all their treasures on my living room floor. If you couldn’t tell I really loved Christmas.

Here is the crazy part. My Christmases were always very small. If I remember correctly there were only three gifts every year. We would get some crayons and a coloring book, some clothes, and then some inexpensive toy that I would always adore.

Now compare the first two paragraphs, they almost don’t seem to fit. Do they? Bottom line is that as a child I never knew what to expect, I only knew what I had always had. Sure, I had seen other friends that received mountains of gifts, but for some reason that never bothered me.

In this season of giving we have become so obsessed with who to buy for and how much to give that we have completely forgotten the “reason for the season”. Yes, I have heard the chants from coast to coast about not taking the Christ out of Christmas. How annoyed we get when someone says Happy Holidays or Merry Xmas. But in some ways those are not even the big issue.

Long before the current trend made annual media coverage the enemy lead us astray by getting us to focus on an abundance of unnecessary giving. The word says that the Lord wants a cheerful giver. How cheerful are you when you purchase and give some of your holiday gifts, oops I mean Christmas gifts.

Really, I desire that you take the time to think about this issue. It makes absolutely no sense, and is not biblical, to spend into debt or to fall behind in obligations just so you may give a half hearted gift that you did not want to give in the first place. It is time we stop allowing “the market” tell us what Christmas is about and remember it for ourselves.

Christmas is about remembering the greatest gift ever given. We in turn give presents in honor of that. So ask yourself, does that remote caddy you bought for Uncle Teddy really honor God? Or does it honor a secularly induced guilt you possess within you?

It is time to really remember Christmas. It is time to really put the Christ back into Christmas. It is time to stop listening to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.