Have you seen this cartoon?
The war on ‘Christ’mas has been heating up for years, played out every day in speech, advertising, decorations, traditions… pretty much everywhere you look, at least subtly.
The anti-‘Christ’mas bullies pick fights with those simple little words ‘Happy Holidays’ and lure us ‘Christ’ians into confrontations that dare us to defend our Faith during this time of year.
I don’t deny that it is a battle, or that we should stand up for Truth. I’m all for that.
But the Bible warns us that we are not fighting a battle of flesh and blood, but against principalities in the spiritual world. (Eph. 6:12) That means, we are not armed with physical weapons such as guns or a sharp tongue, but with God’s armor (Eph. 6:10-17).
It also tells us that a gentle word turns away wrath. (Prov. 15:1)
Saying ‘Merry Christmas’ deliberately instead of ‘Happy Holidays’ is a statement, yes. But ‘how’ we say it says even more.
We should think of what we’re saying and why we’re saying it. To stand up for a belief system? Well, partly. But that’s the gravy. The meat should be for compassion’s sake. The person to whom we say it may not understand why we insist on saying Merry ‘Christ’mas. They may never have heard the amazing story of Jesus’ birth, or at least not believed it as real and pertinent to their lives. They may be fully aware and just not as aware of their words. They may be having a bad or sad day. The ‘love’ behind the words, in that case, would mean much more than words themselves.
I think of it this way - it should feel more like a ‘hug’ than a ‘slap.’ If it isn’t delivered with the full backing of Christ’s love, the ‘reason’ for the Season as it were, then we might as well be saying ‘Happy Holidays.’
Wo! 18 days until the day! Happy Wednesday!
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