Happy Holidays

When Christmas rolls around every year it seems like the same battles are fought over and over again. Happy Holidays vs Merry Christmas. And it seems like every year I see that bumper sticker on the back of peoples cars of a little nativity scene that says , “Put Christ Back into Christmas”. Expressing that Jesus is the reason why we celebrate Christmas the way we do is perfectly fine. But it’s simply not true when we say with a blanket statement “Jesus is the reason for the season.” It’s the winter solstice and had it not been for the Roman Catholics hijacking a pagan holiday, we would be celebrating Christmas in the spring, when Jesus was actually born. The problem I have, however, with many Christians this time of year is the fact that we’re so focused on fighting some war against atheists that we’re not engaging the lost with the gospel.

If someone says happy holidays to us, why are we so offended? Do we not know that only true Christians love Christ? Yet we’re demanding that people and stores extend a “Merry Christmas” because we want them to. We would hardly like it if Muslims demanded during Ramadan that we say some mantra that only they believe. This has become a great distraction that the enemy has cooked up to cause the Christians themselves to remove Christ from the intended meaning of Christmas. If Christmas is supposed to be about the incarnation of the of the Savior of the world, why are we fighting a war on terminology? Jesus is about the gospel, not about making sure atheists say Merry Christmas. When someone looks at you this season and says, “Happy Holidays”, instead of becoming outraged that a lost person has just devalued your religion, recognize that you’re probably speaking to a lost person who needs Christ more than your irritation.