Make Christmas About Christ Again

 "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." -Isaiah 9:6

"And the angel said to them, 'Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.'" -Luke 2:10-11

It's pretty obvious that Christmas has lost its true meaning. It's no longer a holiday that only Christians celebrate because the secular world has taken it and made it into something that it isn't. It is now about presents, decorations, snow, Santa, movies, and music. Most of which have nothing to do with the birth of Jesus. 

According to a Pew Research Study, 81% of non-Christians in America celebrate Christmas. It's not the fact that non-Christians celebrate Christmas that bothers me. What bothers me is that us Christians have let Christmas become a secular holiday that non-Christians want to celebrate without acknowledging why it's celebrated in the first place. 

My mom and I watch a lot of Hallmark Christmas movies every December. Last weekend we watched one in which the woman found out she was half Jewish. After meeting her long-lost Jewish family, she started celebrating Hanukkah as well as Christmas that December. But it made me start to think about how Hanukkah isn't celebrated by someone if they aren't Jewish. I wouldn't celebrate Hanukkah because I'm not a part of that religion and culture. Atheists and people from any other religion wouldn't celebrate it either because they don't agree with Jews theologically. So why is Christmas celebrated by people who don't recognize Jesus as the Savior of the world?

The Jews have succeeded in keeping their holiday sacred. We (Christians) have not. We've let the world take Jesus out of the holiday that is meant to celebrate His birth. 

Another study by Pew Research said that only 46% of Americans say they celebrate Christmas solely for religious purposes rather than cultural purposes. In 2013 that percentage was slightly higher at 51%. 

The celebration of the incarnation of Christ is slowly being replaced by the celebration of a large man coming down your chimney to bring presents. 

It's time for us to start making Christmas about Jesus again. It's not about the gifts you get, or even about the gifts you give. None of those will ever come close to the gift we all received in the manger two-thousand twenty years ago. 

Christmas has become stressful. It's become about what material things we will gain for ourselves or give to others. But none of those things matter when it comes to eternity. 

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:19-21)

I think the worst part about this is that the worldly view of Christmas is also rubbing off on us Christians. Instead of making it solely about Jesus, we also make it about what gifts we receive and what gifts we give to others. While gift-giving itself isn't bad, it becomes bad when it takes Jesus' place in your life. 

The material gifts of Christmas have become an idol. They've replaced the perfect Gift of Christmas that no material gift could ever come close to no matter how hard we try.

If only 46% of Americans celebrate Christmas solely to celebrate the birth of Christ, that means 54% of Americans either celebrate it solely for the cultural aspects of it or not at all. That's about 179 million people that don't celebrate Christmas for Jesus. 179 million people who haven't accepted that Gift into their hearts yet. 

If we start making Christmas solely about Christ again, it becomes a perfect opportunity to lead those people to Him. 

Stop focusing on buying people the perfect gift. Stop wondering if you're going to get the one thing you asked for this year. 

Start making Christmas about Christ again. Start using it as an opportunity to love others. Start showing those 179 million people why we celebrate Christmas in the first place, and maybe those percentages will shift for the better. 

Remember that no gift you will ever give can compare to the gift of salvation and spending eternity with Jesus in Heaven.