Recently I was listening to a few of my co-workers chatting about their holiday season. One spoke about their cultural family traditions, but mentioned that she was unsure why they did them. The other stated that she stopped celebrating Christmas many years ago because it had become too commercialized. The whole conversation left me feeling sad. I understand that Christmas has been commercialized. Who can dispute that? What left me sad though was that this seemed to be the end of my co-workers considerations about Christmas.
I wonder if my co-workers would start celebrating Christmas again if they considered:
- That God came to earth to save His people from their sins.
- That He has now made a way for people to spend an eternity with Him in Heaven.
- That through Jesus, a person can have a new life, and that sin no longer has to master them.
- That salvation is a gift that cannot be earned, and that this gift is so wonderful that it cannot be compared with any earthly gift.
- That Jesus made clear that God has a deep love for all people, and that He desires that no one should perish, but that all should come to eternal life.
- That through Jesus, God is with us in personal ways that mankind could have never conceived of if He had not been born in that manger.
- That one day, Jesus will make all things new, and that there will be no more tears, or suffering, or pain, and that the evil forces of this world and those of the spiritual realm will be destroyed once and for all.
- That God delights in giving to us power to live victoriously and joyfully, and that we can have true peace and purpose through Him.
I could go on and on, but the point is, there is much to celebrate about God and what He has done for us. Christmas is commercialized, and it will likely remain so. This is sad but true. Many folks get it though. We pass signs that say, “Keep Christ in Christmas” and believers offer much around Christmas time that celebrates Jesus for the reasons I have mentioned above. Oh, and not to mention that we can still watch the Peanuts Christmas special and have Linus remind us that unto us a Savior is born and unto us, a Son is given (and that Charlie Brown’s tree is not a bad little tree…). Every year, real Christmas celebrations are happening all the time, and we shouldn’t lose sight of that. The good news is that we can celebrate Christmas all year if we like, and not one gift has to be exchanged, except for the verbal gift of telling one another that Jesus is Lord and that salvation is found in no other name.
The fact of the matter is that the commercialization of Christmas can dampen one’s mood. Yet, we don’t have to stay there. We can pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and joyfully proclaim our faith in Immanuel, for God is indeed with us.
Rob