Forget for a moment the window decorations, nativities on the court house lawn, the emphatic rebuttal of “Merry Christmas” to every one who declares, “Happy Holidays”. Don’t forget them completely for they are important, but when I saw the poster above from a website that almost always criticizes those of us who know the value these outward displays have, I was convicted.
Consider how powerful Christ would be in our communities if we lived the message openly and without shame. Somehow wearing a button that declares, “Keep Christ in Christmas” loses its impact if I am chewing out a store clerk or shoving a fellow shopper. And with or without the button, the nativities on the court house lawn, or any public displays of Christ in Christmas choosing to be cheerful, loving, giving, and forgiving carries Jesus into the world, if I let others know I love the Lord. His own words in the parable of the sheep and goats declares this:
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”
Matthew 25:34-36 NIV
So, WANT CHRIST IN CHRISTMAS? LET THE CHRIST IN YOU [the hope of glory] SHINE into every dark corner of this world.
WANT CHRIST IN CHRISTMAS? Look for him in the most vulnerable, the forgotten, the suffering, weary workers, lonely neighbors. . .make your own list. Look with His eyes, the eyes of God who blessed an old couple with a son, who chose a young woman and her betrothed to parent, who influenced an emperor to take a census, and who sent Angels to a rough group of shepherds.
SHINE! And together we will find Christ in Christmas.
My Seventh Decade...The Years Beyond 