As I listen to the radio, read various opinion articles, and
view cable news programs, I have found that
the seasonal greeting of Happy
Holidays is a hot topic this year. Particularly, some say that Happy
Holidays is a concession to political correctness. And, of course, this is true. Happy
Holidays has come to replace the more antiquated Season's Greetings in the marketplace as the accepted seasonal
salutation. The primary reason for this choice is the motivation to avoid offending
anyone who has a different religious
preference. Happy Holidays, then, is supposed to accommodate Buddhists, Jews,
Hindus, Muslims, and other groups, even the non-believers. In reality, Happy Holidays is a denial of the reason for the Christmas
celebration. However, this phrase is
not the real problem but only a symptom. Let me explain.
Many Christmas Carols offer a strong proclamation of the
gospel. For example look at the last verse of "O Little Town of Bethlehem":
O holy Child of Bethlehem
Descend to us, we pray
Cast out our sin and enter in
Be born to us today
We hear the Christmas angels
The great glad tidings tell
O come to us, abide with us
Our Lord Emmanuel.
These words do not
fit well with Happy Holidays or with
political correctness. The baby Jesus is
not particularly offensive to holiday celebrants. The offense occurs when the
full earthly life of Christ is examined.
This baby grew up to become a man who did what no other human being has
ever done. He remained sinless and then
endured the wrath of God in payment for the sins of his people. He then came back to life and defeated sin
and death. There is nothing politically
correct about this baby who grew up to be the only acceptable sacrifice for our
sins. As a culture we have lost sight of
the reason for the Christmas celebration.
Giving of gifts has
come to be an act of social and economic atonement, following the spirit of Happy Holidays. Socially, gifts are
given not only to show love, but to offer appeasement for insensitivity during
the past year. Gifts are given to
attempt to earn the gratitude or acceptance of others. Gifts are often given out a sense of
obligation and expectation. Too often, gifts are given to make the giver happy,
rather than the recipient. Economically,
holiday gift giving has become the means of redemption for a battered
economy. Most retailers would go out of
business without holiday gift giving. As
a culture we have taken the true joy of Christmas and replaced it with a
celebration of ourselves and our way of life.
Our culture has taken the wonder of God's gift and made it into an idol
that is served by man-centered, self-serving desires.
This is another area
where Christians must avoid mixing biblical truth with cultural practice. When
this mixture happens, idolatry is always the result. This is a good time consider what the giving
of gifts should really be about. Many
Christians will stretch their budgets to the breaking point in order to give
the gifts they think they need to give. Others will experience a sense of guilt
if they cannot afford the gifts they would like to give. Still others of us
will know disappointment if we don't receive the gift we are hoping for. These
thoughts and actions come because the spirit of Happy Holidays has replaced the true joy of living in the light of
God's most precious gift to his people. So, even when you say Merry Christmas, you may actually mean Happy Holidays. This is the trap of our
culture, the deception of the enemy: to
mix truth and error and thus render the church ineffective in its witness. If we celebrate Christmas like the culture
around us, we will have become like our culture.
This issue is important
to address with your children. No, I am
not suggesting that you take back all of the gifts you have already bought.
What I am asking you to do is think carefully about why you give gifts
and how you have transmitted this perspective to your children. Ephesians 1:8 says that the riches of God's
grace have been lavished on us. That is just as true on May 6 and August 13 as
it is on December 25. Is this your
reality? Do you live as though you have already received the most wonderful of
all gifts? Is this the perspective on gifts that your children receive from
you? You see, the way your children view
giving and receiving gifts will tell you much about your own perspective on
gift giving.
Christmas will come
again next year. You have a whole year to consider whether Happy Holidays has come to dominate your reason for gift
giving. If a shift in your perspective
on gift-giving is in order, you have a whole year to make this change and to
bring your children along with you. Happy
Holidays is about what makes us happy--it is about a false sense of
atonement. The gift of Christ Jesus to a
lost world to save God's people from their sins is the one true message of hope
and redemption. Rejoicing in this
perspective must be the reason that we give gifts at Christmas or any other
time. Giving gifts to others should be and
can be a very good thing, but we must always give in the light of what we have
been given in Christ.
As always, let me
know your thoughts.
This article has been tagged with:
Thankyou for the timely reminder. Though I never intend to, it is always too easy to make the focus of Christmas OUR happiness.
"Happy Holidays" actually can be a very biblical message. How about using these moments when we are greeted with it to agree with the greeter and then go on to share the source of that happiness!
So many words. Words without thought, merely said year after year by rote. Let's quit repeating these things unless we engage our brains before opening our mouths or putting pen to paper.