What do you do when someone disrupts your traditions? Maybe something you’ve been doing for years or it's a family ritual that has been passed down to you. Most of us would get upset and start thinking of all the reasons why we need to keep this tradition. But what if we asked ourselves how does this glorify Jesus? What does this do to my worship with Him? Does it hinder my walk or does it help it? I think too many times we get caught up in this world and try to do all the shiny things that catch our eyes. We must start making our world revolve around Him, Jesus.
When we think of “going into the season” what are some of the first things we think about?
- Christmas decorations?
- Special Christmas foods?
- What are we cooking, how many people are we feeding?
- How many gifts are we buying for this year?
- Who are we buying for?
I think we can get very overwhelmed with the Holiday Seasons. Some people go right from Halloween into thinking about Christmas. We need to make sure we don’t forget Thanksgiving and being thankful for God has done for us. We can get holiday stress because we spend so much time planning everything for everyone. We try and make sure you have the right candy, food, gifts and budget for the season. We end up buying endless amounts of stuff and spend so much time planning and preparing for the season. I think that if we should look through the biblical sense of what God intended for us to spend our time on. I think we will see we have spent too much time on things that aren't going to matter for our end goal. What should our end goal be?
The great commission in Matthew 28:16-20 says, “To go and make disciplines and teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you”
Many times, we pass over the part about “teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you” and it's a very important part of what we as Christians should be doing in every season of our lives. Are we teaching and doing this part? I mean really doing it. Teaching to observe all things that God has commanded us to do. All things, even if they don’t look like what others view as right or the way things are done.
So, what does this mean for the Holiday Seasons? I’m not saying we can't participate in some of it but we must be so careful that we are presenting what Jesus is wanting and not presenting what the world makes look all shiny and pretty. Some of the things of the world make our eyes go ooh and aww because of its beauty. We can all get caught up in the sparkling, dazzling Christmas products that suck your pocketbook dry all because we have to deck the halls. We need to make sure the house is lit up outside and buy too many presents to count. How many of us have bought our children gifts for Christmas just for them to put them aside 2 days later and hardly touch them again. Or get those filler gifts so the kids have more to open. I have certainly done it more times than I can count. And God has been really working on me that this is not what He is asking from us, the ones who are walking with Him.
We as Christ followers, are the ones who are waking every day and asking God how I can be used by You today. We are the people He is asking to step outside our comfort zone and be obedient and follow Him, even when it looks different. As Christians we are supposed to look different than the rest. We must remember that Satan is having a field day during the holidays because people are not focused on Jesus and making spreading the Gospel our first priority. Focusing on Jesus is a second thought or third depending on your faith walk. We are so distracted by all the stuff that the devil keeps filling our plates with and we allow it. We allow filling our houses with stuff that doesn’t say I’m a believer in Jesus. Instead, our houses are a reflection of whatever holiday we are in at the moment. Once again, I don’t think God is saying you can't decorate, but we have to be careful that it hasn’t gone too far or become something that we have made an Idol in our lives.
We need to make sure we are not becoming like the world, so we blend in. We are supposed to stick out. We are supposed to teach the things that God holds dear. Most holidays have hardly anything if at all to do with Christ. While Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus, many worldly things have been added. Many times, Christ is the last item talked about. I am not trying to be a scrooge but the older I get and the deeper I go with God, the more He is showing me all the ways the world has infiltrated our Chistian ideas and traditions. The world is taking over almost to the point where we no longer look like Christ but a joyful reflection of the world.
It's like being in a big city. The lights are so bright you can't see the stars in the sky. To see the stars, you need to take yourself away from the city and into the country to where there are less distractions. It's the same way for us when we are following Jesus. We must be careful not to let ourselves get caught up in the worldly things, the fast paced, bright shiny lights, and the things that sparkle. We need to pull ourselves away and see what God really wants us to speak into our lives. What does he want us to do with the seasons we are in? How do we share the word of God in the bright lights, so we don’t get lost in them too.
Let's turn to Romans 12:1-2, where is says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
If we are accepting of the worldly practices that aren’t of God, then how can the world know it's wrong. God has set the bar or boundaries, and we are to walk them out for the world to see. There are too many things we have let infiltrate our lives so that now people can’t see who's a Christian and who’s not. We look too much like the rest of the world and then we wonder why churches are becoming empty. The youth are walking away wondering why they even need the church. We have too many things we have allowed and accepted. And somehow, we need to bridge the gap. We need to discard the things that God is asking us to get rid of, even when our flesh is crying because it's always been the tradition. So, ask yourselves this holiday where do my traditions come from? Who am I really following?
God Bless, Pastor Rae Lynn Stands