keeping christ in christmas

this morning on the news, they showed a display someone had put up of a skeleton dressed in a santa outfit hanging on a cross. whatever statement some wannabe artist was trying to make, exactly, is lost on even this art major. someone commented on the station's facebook page about it, something to the effect of, "for heaven's sake, it's christmas, not atheistmas!"

um...did you mean "it's santamas?" because the last i checked, santa was not born in a manger, nor did he die on the cross for my sins to rise again and make every sad thing untrue (a song lyric i heard this week and really loved). not that i mind santa, but the statement made absolutely no sense whatsoever. christmas and Christ have nothing to do with santa, but this person acted as if this demented piece of "art" compromised christmas and threatened the christian faith.

lately, as with each december in this social media age, i have seen a lot of facebook posts about being darn sure to say merry christmas instead of happy holidays. i'm not trying to say there's anything wrong with posting that with the motive of making sure that Jesus is the center of attention at christmas.

here's the thing: Jesus should be the center of our attention always.

saying "merry christmas" in december is not just some tradition to keep. if the only time you are concerned with keeping Christ in anything is at christmas time in the phrase "merry christmas," then it shouldn't matter to you if people say "happy holidays" or even nothing at all.

yes, it is important for our society to acknowledge christmas and not just gloss over it and lump it together with other december holidays. however, if you are glossing Christ over for the rest of the year, then you aren't showing anyone WHY it is important to keep Christ in christmas, and instead you just look like a jerk.

Jesus will make an impact through us if we live for Him and follow Him. if the only way people know you are a christian is by your demand to be told "merry christmas" instead of "happy hanukkah," then you are doing something wrong.

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(please no hater comments about santa or saying "merry christmas" - if you came out of this blog mad about what i said about either, then you misunderstood what i wrote.)