What is Christmas to you?

By Kirk Boswell

The song says “it’s the most wonderful time of the year”. For many people it is, not so for others. The children get excited, churches have drives to buy toys for orphans, go to nursing homes to sing carols, Christmas parties, family dinners, presents, and I could go on and on. But what does Christmas really mean to you? Are you truly celebrating the birth of Christ or are you celebrating a façade of worldliness wrapped up as a Christian holiday? I ask this question in order to get you to think about this rationally. Were you one of the people up at 2:00 A.M. the day after Thanksgiving trying to find the super deals on Christmas shopping? Would you get up at that same time to go to church? Some would, most wouldn’t. The point of this article is to show how secular the supposed Christian holiday has become. Christmas is supposed to be a celebration of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. The reason we give gifts is because of the gift given to us by our Heavenly Father. However, we have taken this and turned it into the most hedonistic and shameful displays of selfishness and materialism the world has ever known. Don’t get me wrong, I love Christmas. It’s the only time of the year I even get to see some of my family. The fellowship and the food are wonderful. But when it comes to gifts it loses its luster. To be clear, I have no problem with gifts. The Lord gave us the ultimate gift in Himself. But, when we tell our children lies about a fat man in a suit who plays with elves and has a sled pulled by flying reindeer delivering toys to children all over the world, then honestly people, where has Christmas gone? Now you’ve turned Jesus’ birthday celebration into nothing but a lie. Sure you tell your kids Jesus is the reason for the season, but then you lie to them about Santa Clause. When they eventually find out the truth, do you ever wonder if they think you lied to them about Jesus as well? What else are we teaching them? That we say there are children all over the world who not only don’t get any gifts, but are starving to death as well has no meaning to our children. They get and get all year long. Now they get the “big stuff”. Many people setup a savings account just for Christmas shopping every year. Wow, is that not the ultimate show of materialism. Most never think their “Christmas club” money could be used to actually feed someone who is hungry.
I know I’m rambling here, but sometimes it just comes out this way. We have taken the day set aside to celebrate the birth of our Savior and turned it into a celebration of materialism. Of course we make ourselves feel better by giving a little here and there to charities and good causes. It’s the holiday spirit you know. What about the other 11 months of the year? Where is this holiday spirit? Oh yea, it’s being stowed away in the Christmas club account. People also go into debt just so their kids can have a good Christmas. What? You got to be kidding me! We should be teaching our children the importance of Christ and celebrating time together as family but instead our only concern is them being disappointed if they didn’t get a new xbox under the tree? We are teaching them to be materialistic and worldly. If you don’t have the money then don’t buy it. Your kids will be fine. They will actually learn to appreciate things even more in the long run. I’m sure you’re thinking I must be awfully cruel to suggest some children going without on Christmas morning. Well, if they have food to eat and clothes to wear they need to be thankful, as should you. My wife and I have a very limited budget to spend on our children. If we didn’t have anything, then they would not get anything. I will not put presents ahead of food on the table. There are also millions apun millions of children around the world who would give anything just to have food to eat. Sure, your church sends shoeboxes with toothpaste, toothbrush, coloring book, and crayons to the unfortunate children in Haiti or elsewhere and you sleep much better at night. While under the tree your child has hundreds of dollars of gifts and many times they will even turn their nose up at things that aren’t “good” enough for them. So I ask, what is Christmas to you? A celebration of the birth of our Savior? An excuse spend insane amounts of money on mostly unneeded things? A time for family? Or a time to spoil your children and then expect them not to be “selfish”? The day may soon come when none of us have the means to spend like drunken sailors. I say again that I am not against giving presents to children or anyone else. But we must remember that presents do not make Christmas. Giving praise and being with loved ones is what is truly important this season. In reality we should celebrate the birth of Christ every day, not just on December 25th. After all, there is only one gift that matters…..It’s the salvation offered through the blood of our risen Savior. Do you know Him? Or better question, does He know you?