A Christmas thought

Every year it happens.  Soon after Thanksgiving, emails begin circulating and facebook posts begin popping up about reclaiming our rights as Christians.  We will see demands for Christmas trees in school.  We’ll be admonished not to shop at stores that don’t display Christmas decorations.  We’ll be encouraged to pointedly respond “Merry Christmas” to the cashiers who wish us “Happy Holidays.”  I think this is born from an honorable desire.  We want to defend our rights as Christians, because we feel that by doing so we are somehow defending Christ Himself.

And yet, I wonder – is that what Christ wants?  When I think about Christ, I am struck by how little He cared for His rights.  The creator of the universe didn’t enter Jerusalem with legions of angels announcing His presence.  When He was on trial, He didn’t demand acknowledgement of His glory.  When challenged, He didn’t throw back angry retorts.

What blows me away is that God….God Almighty…set aside every right, every recognition due Him, and  became nothing. When His feet were dirty, He washed others’.  When He was mocked, He was simply quiet.  When He died, He died for sins that were not His own.

How does that translate to our modern-day Christmas celebrations?  Well, what if we truly put Christ in Christmas?  What if we were more concerned with loving that cashier than with how he greets us?  What if we worried more about how we can serve the families of our children’s classmates than we are about whether or not there is a tree in their classroom?  What if we focussed less on what Christmas should look like and more on how we can look like Christ?

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~ by NinjaPrincess on November 17, 2012.