Ignoring Christmas

Ignoring Christmas, are you kidding? How would that be possible? The stores started assembling their elaborate Christmas displays in mid-October well before Halloween. It is a tradition in my family to wait until the day after thanksgiving to get all the decorations down and the tree up. Some wise people have been purchasing gifts all year long in anticipation of Christmas morning. Then there are those Christmas parties and the anticipation of spending the holidays with family and friends. With all this activity it is impossible to ignore Christmas.
Maybe that is exactly the problem. We are so busy getting ready for Christmas and cleaning up after Christmas that the true significance of Christmas can be ignored or missed entirely. Perhaps we need to learn the lesson that Dr. Seuss writes about in the Christmas classic, "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas."

And the Grinch, with his grinch-feet ice-cold in the snow,

Stood puzzling and puzzling: "How could it be so?

It came without ribbons! It came without tags!

"It came without packages, boxes or bags!"

And he puzzled three hours, `till his puzzler was sore.

Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before!

"Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store.

"Maybe Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!"

                  
Christ is what Christmas is about. The more we ignore that the greater chance that we will miss Christmas. The more we recognize Christ and His gift of eternal life the more Christmas will mean to us. Though I love the tinsel and decorations, the family and friends gatherings, the opportunity to show my love to my loved ones by giving a small token gift, and the small traditions that make this such a blessed time of year, I fully realize that Christmas in it's true significance, can be experienced without any of those things. Christmas is about Immanuel, God with us. So really everyday ought to be Christmas in the believer's heart. May you have a great Christmas season, and may you have the joy of having Christ within you all the days of this new year!!

Walking The Talk.

Hollywood and Christians are often at odds. It was good to read an Associated Press story this week about actress Sandra Bullock who expressed her appreciation for meeting Leigh Anne Tuohy and seeing her walk the talk of Christianity. Sandra Bullock plays Leigh Anne in the recent block buster movie, "The Blind Side." In preparing for the part she spent a lot of time with Mrs. Tuohy.

The movie depicts a Christian family who adopts a young homeless African American teenager into their home. They supported him through many challenges and later adopted him into their family. Michael Oher, the young man, finished high school, was outstanding in college, and was a first round draft pick for the NFL's Baltimore Ravens.

The Touhys attend Grace Evangelical Church in Mephis and according to Ms Bullock the family allowed her to have “faith in those who say they represent a faith.” “[Mrs. Tuohy] was so open and honest and forthright,” Ms. Bullock said, “and I said, wow, I finally met someone who practices but doesn’t preach.”

Ms. Bullock said she had met other Christians who promoted their faith but did not live a lifestyle that matched it. She stated that she became wary of Christians before she meet Leigh Ann Tuohy.

What this report says to me is that we are a witness for Christ or against Him. The way we live our lives either validates the truth we believe or makes the words invalid by the very actions and attitudes we exhibit. We will fail to carry out the great commision of our Lord if we do not match words with walk.

Many times the problem is not doing things that we should not do (keeping God's proabition laws) but it is in not doing what we should do. Responding to anger with kindness, keeping our own anger under control,  displaying the fruits of the Spirit, taking care of the helpless and "to do what is right, to love mercy and to walk humbly before our Lord." (Micah 6:8). When we begin to live this kind of life we will begin to change minds about Christians being narrow-minded, bigoted, judgmental and hypocritical.