Jesus Is NOT The Reason For The Season!

WOW—I knew that would get your attention! Go ahead…take a deep breath…and continue to read!

I am amazed yet again at the call for Christians to boycott certain stores because they refuse to acknowledge Jesus by saying, “Merry Christmas” - and instead they are saying, “Happy Holidays!”

I will admit that I wished people did say Merry Christmas…I will also admit that it does bother me that people are trying to take Jesus out of the mix. But we must understand as followers of Jesus that Ephesians says that our struggle is not against flesh and blood (or Wal Mart or Target) but against a very real enemy! We can’t lose sight of that!

Yet once again we have placed the expectation on organizations that are NOT Christian organizations to act like they are and begin to acknowledge Jesus during December—when they do not acknowledge Him January through November. (And I don’t really hear anyone yelling about that!)

I stand by the title of this post—Jesus is NOT the reason for the season—HE IS THE REASON FOR LIFE—PERIOD! He is the reason I got up this morning! He is the reason I do what I do! He is the reason I am not going to bust hell wide open! And for me to become passionate about Him during this time of year and NOT be that way for the other 11 months is hypocritical!

I am seriously bothered by this. Why is it that some are screaming about this issue? What I bet you will see is the people who are raising the biggest fuss about all this will be silent in January. My question is simply this—is Jesus any less important in January than He is in December?

“But Perry—December is the month set aside where we are supposed to focus on Him,” some would argue. I would say that is a dangerous mindset—if you are in Christ then you focus should be on Him DAILY…not just once a year.

Personally, I get more excited about my relationship with Jesus in May than any other month, May 27th specifically. Why is that? Because that is the day I received Christ and He rocked my world—that is the day I celebrate with all my heart. Call me selfish—call me self centered—I don’t care—I know that I am now experiencing a full life and I am not headed to hell—and I am specifically reminded of that every May!

If you are involved in this “boycott” of stores that are not using the word “Christmas,” then let me ask you a question…and forgive me for repeating myself…Are you going to boycott them in February? How about July? If not then I say you are being a hypocrite. Once again—Jesus is not any less important in those months than He is this month. HE IS NOT THE REASON FOR THE SEASON—HE IS THE REASON FOR LIFE!

A couple of other things before I head out of town…

#1 - My buddy Greg has an excellent post on why Seacoast has chosen to celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve and not Christmas Day—check it out here.

And one other thing on that note—people must remember that NewSpring and churches like us are portable—we set up and tear down every week—and it takes between 350 and 400 volunteers to make it happen—and they arrive at church at 6:00AM and often do not leave until 9 or 10PM.

We do not have the convenience of just walking out when it’s over—and once again—we are not going to ask our volunteers to leave their kids at home and come to church and work for 12 hours.

If your church does not have this issue—then that is awesome—PRAISE GOD! But before you are critical of churches in our situation—walk in our shoes.

#2 - Thank You, Thank You, Thank You for the e-mails that you send me! I have really enjoyed the encouragement AND the challenges that people have sent me on various items, especially the subject of Christmas. It gladdens my heart to know that I can disagree with my fellow believers in Christ on the minors and still love them and rejoice that I am going to spend eternity with them.

And until yesterday I had a commitment to respond to every e-mail that comes in; however, things are now changing.

From now on I will respond to every e-mail that comes is that does not attack me personally.

Understand me on this one—to disagree with my beliefs is one thing—but to begin to make comments about me personally and tear me down isn’t godly—and I will have nothing to do with that! (Some dude e-mailed yesterday and called me fat! I am serious! I didn’t get mad—I laughed…in fact, I am laughing now. Stuff like that WAS really cool—in the first grade!!!)

Seriously—if you are in Christ and disagree—then lets be adults about it and treat each other with honor and respect. As my grandma used to say, “Ya’ll play nice now!”