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Christmas; The “WORLD’S” Way -vs- The “CHRISTIAN’S” Way
“The World’s” Way
The world has declared war on Christ-mas. And if the truth were told the world’s issue is not with Christmas itself, but it’s issue is with Christmas being associated in Christ. The world celebrates Christmas for the wrong reason, because by the mere virtue of the name Christmas, this alone should suggest that it is all about Christ. When the world celebrates Christmas, they don’t want anything at all to do with Christ. They want this to be just another day of celebration. They want to buy gifts; receive gifts; take time off from their jobs; spend money; praise Santa; decorate houses with lights and apparels; have parties; have a good time; and eat, drink and be Merry.
They have once again taken something that is sacred and dear to Christians and defiled it. I am not at all surprised with how the world has trampled on the very thing that Christmas stands for, but however I am somewhat surprised with the way Christians have stood by and allowed it to happen. I can’t believe how we have become so tolerant in allowing everyone to offend the very crux of why we are even defined as Christians.
I am somewhat surprised with the way Christians have sat back and allowed the world to remove Christ “The Corner Stone” out of any and everything they so desired without even putting up a fight, let alone any resistance at all.
The LORD said in (Jer 4:22) NIV, My people are fools; they do not know me. They are senseless children; and they have no understanding.
I guess what really seems to amaze me is how the world could take our sacred “Holy-day” and turn it into a worldly festival. And what seems to amaze me even more is how we can just idly stand by watching.
If this is the way the world wants to treat Christmas, then let THEM go right ahead and do it their way. But we should be certain to refer to this as “The World’s” way of celebrating Christmas.
“The Christian’s” Way
The Bible says in (Ro 12:1,2):
(1) I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
(2) And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
“A (1 – 5 year) Plan”
The first thing Christians have to do is to have a renewed mind. We need to recognize that Christ is not pleased with the way Christmas has been commercialized by the world. Christmas is a Latin term that means more Christ. Although we say Christ-mas with our mouths, Christ is the furthest thing from our hearts.
There needs to be a difference between the way the “World” celebrates Christmas and the way the “Christians” celebrate Christmas.
The first thing we need to begin to do is tell all of our family, co workers, and friends that we are not going to continue celebrating Christmas the way the “world “ celebrates it.
Begin telling your young children about Jesus, and explain to them that He is the reason for the season. Stop buying gifts for anyone over the age of eighteen with the exception of family members only. Begin limiting the number of gifts you buy your children to one to four gifts per child. Have all children over eighteen, siblings, and parents pick one name out of the family to have a grab bag for Christmas. Everyone should buy one gift for the name of the person they picked for the grab bag.
Tell everyone outside of your immediate family, that you are no longer buying gifts for anyone outside of your immediate family. Explain to them that you are no longer celebrating Christmas the way the “world” celebrates Christmas. This shouldn’t be all that difficult.
It may not be so easy telling your aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins, grand parents, friends, and co-workers about your new way of celebrating Christmas, but this is something that has to be done. The best way to explain it to them is by highlighting how over commercialized Christmas has become.
This process should begin right away, but it may not take full effect until about five years later. If it is hard for you to follow this plan, then at least begin telling everyone immediately about how you intend to adopt this plan in the next five years.
The “Christian’s” Christmas:
(1) No more Santa Clause, no more surprises, no more lies, start telling all little children the truth.
(2) No more gifts for aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins, grand parents, friends, and co-workers.
(3) One to four gifts for your own children under eighteen.
(4) Have a grab bag game set up for siblings, parents and all children over eighteen.
(5) Begin eliminating at least one particular group from the group list each year until you have eliminated all of them. ei: eliminate co-workers the first year, friends the second year, and so on, and so forth. In five years, you could have eliminated each group in the group list.
(6) If you can’t begin this plan immediately, then at least begin telling everyone about your intentions.
(7) Lets keep talking about the “Christian” Christmas verses the “World’s” Christmas.
(8) Also, no gift exchanging between Christian husbands and wives or Christian boyfriends and girlfriends eighteen and over. This shouldn’t be that difficult to do among true Christians over the age of eighteen, because we should all be in agreement that the world has defiled our sacred day.
My wife and I stopped exchanging Christmas gifts about three to four years ago, and we still enjoy Christmas very much. It is not going to be easy changing the way we celebrate Christmas because it will affects so many other people. We may also be persecuted for doing this, but we need to “count the cost.”
Look at it this way, after the world has taken Christ out of Christmas, they have some nerves to still expect us join in with their parade of shenanigans. Again, lets count the cost.
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