Isn't there anyone that knows what Christmas is all about? I find myself often asking that question in a mirror. I have spent the last two days Christmas shopping shoulder to shoulder with irate and irrational people, setting up Christmas lights and Christmas decorations with my beautiful wife and daughter and watching Christmas movies, but I can count on one hand how many times I really have thought about the real reason for Christmas.
I was talking to a Jehovah's witness the other day and he was explaining to me that they do not celebrate any holidays. I had heard this before but never had really talked to someone who held these beliefs. After, asking him some questions, he explained to me that they didn't celebrate holidays because they had all become polluted with pagan things and had gotten away from the real reason for the holidays. Our holidays have become so commercialized that we can barely recognize them as the holidays that they once were. I wonder if the Jehovah's witnesses are on to something here, however like anything you can have two extremes, you can completely forget about Jesus in Christmas or you can just not celebrate Christmas because Jesus is not a part of it anymore.
I can suggest a third and far better response to Christmas. How about we bring Jesus back into Christmas? I feel like I need this as much as anyone. I get so wrapped up in the shopping and cookies (oh how I love Christmas cookies, or any cookies for that matter) and the lights and presents that I find myself not even thinking about the fact that Jesus came here on earth, leaving his heavenly throne, to become human so that He could truly be our mediator with God and we could become the righteousness of God in Him. The fact that this holiday was meant to celebrate that fact, needs to be at the center of Christmas. Sure, presents aren't bad, cookies certainly are not bad, Christmas lights and decorations are not bad, but when they take the focus and spotlight from Christ, then they can become bad.
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