Jesus Might Be The Reason For The Season, But

Jesus might be the reason for the season, but Christmas is the reason for the long lines. I was reminded of that at the post office when trying to mail a Christmas Card to my best friend. There were several people in front of me with packages and the one being waited on had trouble because the post office's computer system went down.

For many of us, Christmas is a time for being with and giving to those in our our family. But that is not necessarily the Christian way of celebrating Christmas. The Christian way of celebrating Christmas is to give to those who cannot give anything in return except for thanks. That is the Christian way of celebrating Christmas because when we think about it, that was how God created Christmas. He sent His Son into the world for us who were rebelling against Him. We were in no position, and  will never be, to give back to Him anything close to what He has given us.

It's not that time with and giving to those in our families is wrong. It is that without giving to those who cannot return the favor, our Christmas celebration is incomplete. And perhaps when we give, we should give the most expensive gifts to those who have the least and the most personal and inexpensive gifts to those who have the most.

The above goes against how many of us have traditionally celebrated Christmas. And that might be because our capitalist economic system has planted too many materialist fairies dancing in our heads. We struggle to see that from the inside, but to those outside of our borders who live in less affluent societies, it is crystal clear.

I will struggle to carry out what I am preaching here in this blogpost. I will be confined by unusual family circumstances this Christmas season.  But I will have opportunities to give to those who can't return the favor both before and after Christmas. Hopefully I will make the most of those opportunities.