Why are people so afraid to wish
others a Merry Christmas? Why are public
places wary of displaying a nativity scene among the other ‘holiday’
decorations and images?
The excuses they give vary from a separation
of Church and State to a desire to be ‘inclusive’ or ‘non-offensive’. None of the excuses really stand up to
scrutiny- but that is another subject entirely.
I don’t get as bent out of shape as
some do with the refrain of ‘happy holidays’ as the season does include
Thanksgiving, Hanukkah and New Year.
What gets me is the apparent fear to specifically acknowledge Christmas
as one of these annual winter celebrations.
I would propose that this ‘fear’
comes as the result of a different type of fear.
We read in 1 John 4:18: “There is
no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with
punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.”*
What does this have to do with
Christmas?
Christmas is one of God’s
expressions of ultimate, redeeming love; a love which is not a cause for fear
but for faith and joy.
When the angel appeared to Mary,
his words were “Do not be afraid Mary, for you have found favor with God” (Luke
1:30). When he appeared to Joseph he
said, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife” (Matthew
1:20). And to the shepherds he said, “Fear
not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the
people” (Luke 2:10).
What God was doing to bring the
Messiah into the world was an act of immeasurable and perfect love, and in this
love there was no cause for fear. Christmas
is God’s declaration that He has opened a way out from under the fear of
punishment, not by ignoring the offense of sin, but by taking it upon Himself
through Jesus: “you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from
their sins” (Matthew 1:21).
When a person receives this
blessing, fear of God’s judgment is lifted as they recognize that “there is
therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). This release and relief comes as God’s love is
“poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Romans
5:5).
We who know Christ are not afraid
to face God because we are confident that He has declared us guiltless of sin; that
because of Jesus’ sacrifice we are now counted as “the righteousness of God” (2
Corinthians 5:21).
This is such good news! Who would wish to silence this message of God’s
love?
If “perfect love casts out fear”
then the obvious suspect would be someone who is cut off from this redeeming love
of God. Only such a person could be so
afraid of Christmas that they would do anything to keep it silent.
The culprit is no less than satan
himself. Through his own rebellion he
has forfeited God’s love and for him only dreadful punishment remains, a fact
which fills him with intense fear.
We read: “the reason the Son of God
appeared was to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). Jesus will ‘crush the head of the serpent’
(Genesis 3:15) and cast him into the Lake of Fire to be destroyed (Revelation
20:10). Satan is deathly afraid because
he knows what is coming his way.
Satan desperately wants for
Christmas not to be true.
Scripture tells us that apart from
those saved through Jesus, “the whole world lies in the power of the evil one”
(1 John 5:19). Satan expresses his own
fear through those humans under his influence.
And so he ‘inspires’ ‘scholars’ and critics to declare Christmas a myth
and a fable and would see Christmas silenced.
If Jesus did not really exist, or
if He was just a man born in the natural way; if the miracles associated with
His birth are fables and if He died without rising back to life again, then
there would be no reason to fear Christmas.
Christianity would be just one drop among many in the ocean of religion. Perhaps he thinks if he can rid the world of
Christmas he can escape or delay his punishment.
But Christmas is true and because it
is satan knows his days are numbered.
For those who refuse to take the word
‘Christmas’ upon their lips and forbid it to be spoken publicly, perhaps they
also, deep down, are afraid because Christmas is true. And if it is, they must come face to face
with the fact of sin and judgment.
So rather than get bent out of
shape, Christians would do better to recognize the issue for what it is- a
spiritual battle. City councils, retail
managers, school administrators are pawns in satan’s losing bid to forestall
his own doom.
Our task is not to fight for some ‘political’
victory in which a nativity scene may be displayed on public property, but to lay
claim to spiritual ‘real estate’, taking every opportunity God presents to share
the Good News in the hope that the love of God may fill the hearts of those
around us and that they may no longer be afraid.
Merry Christmas!
*Scripture quotes from the English Standard
Version
