SANTA VS. JESUS

'The responsibilities and pressures of this world clamor for our attention and tend to squeeze out our inner lives and starve our souls. When this happens, we lose sight of the things that really matter and focus on the things that are passing away. Our value systems become confused when we invest more of our thought and concern in things that are doomed to disappear than in that which will endure forever.'

-Ken Boa

'Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God abides forever'

-1 John 2:15-17


Merry Christmas! Have you gotten all your shopping done? Did you remember everyone on your list-did you check it twice? Did you purchase multiple presents for each person-or did you get them one gift each? I'm going to tell you something that won't shock you...the average family spends over $750 on Christmas gifts each year. Now, when you think about that, when you've got a family, gifts add up quickly-you've got mom, dad, siblings, friends, and maybe even co-workers.
Christmas has become a stressful time of year and the true meaning of Christmas has become lost in this consumeristic culture that we live in. Many of us are consumed with the thoughts of 'who did I forget' or 'are you sure they're going to like this'? Our thoughts aren't on Christ, but presents. Usually, those gifts aren't useful either-they're gifts that lose their meaning within months of receiving. I recall watching NCIS: Los Angeles recently in which the teams boss gives them gift-ironically, their boss regifts the gifts the team had given in previous years. Of course, Hetty, their boss, doesn't give them the gifts they gave, she gives their gifts to other members-once everyone begins opening their gifts-shocked that she gave them any gifts at all, they begin to realize that the gifts they opened were gifts each other gave to Hetty.
My point? Well, we spend time purchasing gifts we think our friends and family members want-sometimes we're fortunate to get a list of things they wanted, but sometimes we do our own thing too. In the end, many of the things on their list-including mine isn't a good investment. The one that hit me up-side the face was movies...I like movies a lot and I have been dubbed 'the mini-blockbuster' by friends and family. When I think of all the movies I have, it's sad really...it takes up space and I don't find myself watching them over and over again-just every once in a while. I don't need them, I wanted them and I think that truth is what's been misguiding the Christmas season all together...which is why I picked 'Santa vs. Jesus' for this blog post.
Henri Nouwen wrote: 'Being busy has become a status symbol' and that 'we are inclined to become so restless and tense that we welcome anything that will distract us again'. Now, I'm inclined to agree with him-I think we've become too distracted and have missed the true meaning of Christmas. The celebration of Christ coming into the world as not a king, but as one of us...an ordinary child with an ordinary up-bringing and a gift beyond measure...
How sad is it that we've forgotten that Christ was God among us and that he was born in a stable...I still think there's something wrong with this picture-he should've been staying at the Double Tree! Christmas has become deluted into spend, spend, spend and stress, stress, stress. Yet, how often do we find peace and find deep meaning in the company of our families? It's pretty rare when we find ourselves preparing for family to either arrive or pack-up the gifts cuz you're on your way to the in-laws! There's plenty of stress to go around during Christmas, but I don't think that's what Christmas was intended for. When you see movies with Santa, you find a unifying theme-usually it's Santa worried about Christmas. How sad is that?
Anyway, I will get off my soap box, but I promise to be back with something else too...in the mean time check out this video:
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