Merry Christmas

By William J. Dell – 23 December 2009

I have just finished a journey from Colorado Springs to my home. A journey of four days and 1500 plus miles beginning on December 19th. As I punched the dial of my car radio for Christmas Music, I found by my unscientific poll that only 3% of the music was Christ centered. The rest was centered on the secular aspects of the Christmas holiday. Have we forgotten that “Jesus is the reason for the season?” How can we expect to have Christian families and a Christian nation when we have forgotten Christ?

Have we destroyed the sacredness of Christmas and Easter in favor of commercialism and political correctness? Are Santa and the Easter Bunny more important than the Savior of the World? Why is it that we can acknowledge other religions holidays by name but for the Christian’s we have to say Happy Holidays rather than Merry Christmas? If in fact our nation is more than 85% Christian, why are others so intolerant of the simple greeting – Merry Christmas – and the joy it is intended to send?

Are we Christians in name only? Have we become a nation of closet Christians? Do we believe we are Christians simply because we believe in the Bible and its teachings? If so, I would remind you the Bible says, “the devils also believe and tremble.” [James 2:19b] Do we believe we are Christians by virtue of our birth and our Judeo-Christian heritage or are we Christian by virtue of our accepting Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior by being “born again” and the inherent consequences and responsibilities of that acceptance?

The Scriptures teach us that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is personal. It cannot be inherited from our parents or grandparents. They, or someone else, may guide us to Christ but each person must exercise his or her own faith in God and through use of their own God-given moral agency accept or reject Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. Each of us must be “born again” as Jesus taught Nicodemus in the third chapter of John’s Gospel. To bring this point home, Jesus further taught his disciples in the fourteenth chapter of John’s Gospel – There is no other way. [John 14:6]

Does God require more than passive Christianity? If so how do we witness without offending or alienating those to whom we witness? Is it possible for us as Christians to have the passion for Christianity that Muslims have for Islam without the violence of the Jihadist of radical Islam? Is it possible for us as “Christians” to apply Paul’s counsel to Timothy to ourselves:

When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also. Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God; Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel: Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us. [2 Tim 1:5-14]

Are we willing to mourn with those that mourn and comfort those that stand in need of comfort as the Master did? Are we willing to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that we may be in, even until death, that we may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection? Or are we ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

Is example enough? I do not believe so. I believe that we should constantly pray for opportunities to witness for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and let the Holy Spirit present us with those opportunities. Then when presented with the opportunity, we should boldly proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ without being overbearing. For we should always remember, it is important that we do not destroy the God-given agency of man. The choice to become a Christian and to live with the incumbent consequences and responsibilities must always remain a personal choice for that is the will of our Father in Heaven.

“And so as Tiny Tim observed, God Bless Us, Every One!”
and have a very Merry Christmas.