All this "Christmas" Brouhaha

Wow! The times are a changin'! I knew that the "holidays" were always going to have a secular approach and a Christian approach, but I never imagined it would come to this. If I were to be quite honest, it's not so much the retailers refusing to say "Merry Christmas" that upsets me. I can deal with that. It's the Christians who are trying to boycott retailers and point their fingers that upsets me.
Why does it upset me? Let me start with the Word:

"For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is NOT EVEN ABLE to do so." -Romans 8:5-7

"For you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the Spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and were by nature children of wrath, just like everyone else. But GOD, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, MADE US ALIVE together with Christ." -Ephesians 2:1-5

Can you see the theme in both of these verses? Look at the first: the mind that is set on the flesh is NOT EVEN ABLE to please God. The second: We were all at one point in our lives "dead", and God himself "makes us alive" to Christ through our faith. My point? If non-Christians are NOT EVEN ABLE to subject themselves to God, and if God Himself brings us to faith in Himself, why in the world are some of these "religious groups" and Christians pointing their fingers, expecting non-Christians to act like Christians? "Christmas is a part of our culture!", one might say. I agree. Our forefathers founded this country on biblical principles. I am not excusing non-Christian retailers from their sin, but I am saying is this: Just because this country is founded on biblical principles doesn't mean that everyone is a Christian. Just becuase a student attends a Christian school doesn't make him or her a Christian. Just because a patient chooses a Christian hospital doesn't mean he or she is a Christian. If you were to live in a Buddhist culture, you find the same thing. Though the culture as a whole accepts Buddhism as their primary religion, it doesn't mean that everyone practices Buddhism, and I have seen this first hand. Why is this? Because unless God Himself brings a spiritually dead man to life, he will remain spiritually dead, therefore unable to do anything spritual.

Let me clarify, again. I am not excusing non-Christian retailers from their sin, nor am I saying that the "attack" on Christmas is o.k. But if you look at Jesus' life, his ministry, and his character, how did he treat such people? How did he treat the "sinners" (tax-collectors, prostitues, adulterers, drunkards, non-Jewish retailers)? Did he go to where they were and start ringing a loud bell, saying, "Save Judaism!!!"? No! What did he do????

He loved them....and you know what else???

He DIED for them!

I will conclude with this. I believe the answer to this "brouhaha" is not to stand outside the store, ringing our noisy gongs and clanging our cymbals of hatred, but to saturate ourselves with God's Word and his Holy Spirit, loving Him with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and loving our neighbor as ourself. I believe we should pray for these people and ask God to bring them to repentance, and as we pray, we should love. So the next time a Christian/religious group feels so inclined to make a trip to the local Wal-Mart or Target to boycott, they would be wise to consider these words:

"If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal." -I Corinthians 13:1