not of the world
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I was fellowshipping with a friend and he was telling me about a book he has been reading. It is about a Christian who lives in a Muslim country and one of the misconceptions she encountered, was that most Muslims think everyone in the west is a Christian. She said anything the Muslims see in soap opera’s, makes them think, that must be how Christians act. Now my questions are these, how can Christians distance themselves from this? How beneficial is it that Americans push to have the government identified with Christ? I know these questions apply more towards the large group and not as much to individuals because I am talking about how Christians are seen as a whole in other countries. The other part that got me thinking about this was the news stories about people pushing to have the government calling a Christmas tree a holiday tree instead. For example:
posted by chadjohnston1 @ 8:36 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
on one hand it really ticks me off when people try to make christmas politically correct, but on the other hand, i dont want to force it on anyone. on one hand, i dont want the world to mock my holiday by creating santa and other carnal "xmas" themes, but on the other hand i want everybody to exprience the spirit of the season. ive never thought about what it looks like to other countries. if they believe lies like "everyone in the west is a christian", then i geuss the only way to change their mind is to tell them the truth like your friend is doing.
Even the most sincere Christians I meet are often more concerned about being 'right' than about being loving.
I think in order to distance ourselves from stereotypes we should keep the example of Christ's love before us always; correcting our heart in our conversations and our actions.
When I get ready to open my mouth, often the Holy Spirit is there to convict me that my words and the intentions of my heart, although superficially 'religious', are just desiring to sooth my ego.
We are immensely concerned with trumping others in political, theological, or personal debates/discussions and making ourselves look good.
If we could ALL have one long conversation this christmas season with a non-believer without our flesh clinging to every possible chance to puff up our pride and make ourselves look good. If our purpose could be simply to love, I think this would be the most Christ-like event in the spirit of Christmas that we could do this season.
Now apply this to our political conversations, debates over how to 'properly' worship God, pedobaptism/credobaptism, whether Target stores should call it the Holiday Season or the Christmas season, and so-on. We need to pray continually that God would help us leave our pride behind and flee from it.
When non-christians feel the deep emptiness of their lives built on materialism, or when academics anguish over disappointment from eastern religious ideas, or when sex-addicts go to the ends of depravity and simply find ugliness and death in their addiction...
THEN, there is no need to argue. The true manifestation of the love of Christ working through His bride (which is US) will shine like a City on a Hill in all her glory and finally present an answer to those who are disappointed, empty, lonely and misled in this life.
If God wills, then He will draw to Himself all those who have been called.
Who cares what the Government calls the season, or Target, or the CEO of your company? Why not let it simply be the 'Holiday Season'.
'Holiday' you know is derived from "Holy Days".
So let us truly be 'Holy' this season, and put to death the desires of the flesh in us.
(ps. don't tell the ACLU what 'holiday' really means!)
Happy 'Holidays'!
-Neil
Dec 25th is not his birthday. its the day we honor it, but we should
be honoring him daily in our lives. People not celebrating Christmas
wth Christ as the center simply means they are not celebrating Christ
at all. I would rather they not celebrate Christmas if they aren't
going to honor him To them, let it be 'the season' let it be about
'santa', because the rest of the year their hearts are equally focused
on themselves. Why should it be different on Dec 25th? Don't we get
irritated with people who only go to church on easter and sunday?
That teaches people that Christianlty is about holidays... its about
every day being 'holy' as unto the Lord! I wonder if Christ is at all concerned about who doesn't
celebrate this day, He did not establish this day as a commanded
holiday. He is probably more concerned that they Do not worship Him at
all- the worship He demands as God! I hope he is glorified in His
children as we seek to honor Him on a daily basis and hope that we who
are truly celebrating it will celebrate this day with thankfulness for
what He has done for us.
Should our outrage be ignited when lost people don't honor our
celebrations? I think we may be missing the point. There should be
outrage, there should be angst. But not because people don't celebrate
Christmas! thats just a small symptom of the real problem, they are
not His! They do not know His love. How in the world can they
celebrate His birth when they don't know who He is? Who is going to
tell them? Who is going to live the Christ honoring life that is as a
'city on a hill'? Who is going to shine their light so that others
will see it and praise God because of it?
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