By Rod Palmer

Are we losing the true meaning of Christmas?  

Let us start out by saying that Christmas is and always will be the celebration of a promise from the Lord that was fulfilled and given to us. The coming of a savior was first foretold in Genesis 3:15 and prophesied more than 47 times in the Old Testament.   From the very beginning, God gave indications that a Savior would be coming from the seed of a woman. This promise came to fruition in the book of Luke Chapter 2.

The Birth of Jesus

Luke 2 – 1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while[a] Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town to register.

4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger because there was no guest room available for them.

8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,

    and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

This is the true meaning of Christmas and why we celebrate it.  The birth of Christ is actually a historical event that did happen and is well documented.  

In today’s culture, we want to stamp out history and remove all things that remind us of where we came from and the true meaning of Christmas. If this story offends you, and yet you celebrate Christmas anyway, then you do not have the true meaning of Christmas in you.  

Everything seems to offend someone these days. Even Starbucks changed their holiday cup to just a plain red cup because they want “to create a culture of belonging, inclusion, and diversity”, isn’t that what Jesus did? Any reference to Christmas might offend someone. Well if we are offended by the fulfillment of a promise then we have a greater problem. Jesus came to fulfill a foretold prophecy so that all men could have eternal life.

Now let me climb down off my soapbox for a second and get to what we really wanted to talk about here: an uncensored Christmas. You know for years now we have been told to say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas and this in itself is being censored. We don’t really know when we are being censored because it comes in slowly with things so that we don’t really realize we have changed our stance on certain things. There is absolutely nothing wrong with saying Happy Holidays, we should have happy holidays. It is a joyous time of year and should remain so, but because we have been told to do it makes it a controversial thing.  

It seems like we draw lines in the sand on every issue these days. You are either on one side or the other. Well, that is not what this country was founded on and it is definitely not what the reason for this time of year is really about. We as a country have always come together on serious issues. It wasn’t about one faction of people on this side and another faction of people on the other side. When our backs were against the wall we came together as one nation.

Don’t Get Bogged Down

Back in the day Christmas was simple and should be again. I remember my parents talking about their Christmas day when they were a kid. They would only get a few pieces of hard candy, an orange, and maybe a pair of shoes on a good year. You may think that this was a pretty poor Christmas day for them but on the contrary, they were very thankful and excited to get something they didn’t usually have. Now we overspend and think our children should get everything on their wish list. If only we could turn back time to a day when the message was simple and Christmas was what it was meant to be – a celebration of a promise given.

I have said all of this to actually say what my intent is. Don’t let what is going on in the world today keep you from having a very Merry Christmas. If we don’t get bogged down on what we get or didn’t get for Christmas, who we could or couldn’t see, what we did and didn’t do, then maybe we could see the true gift of Christmas.