By our first Christmas while living in Zambia, we discovered it was a holiday with little emphasis. Add to this fact, there was nothing in the few shops to buy, so, a traditional American Christmas was not possible. This seemed odd our first year. However, it became something we enjoyed because our focus turned to the true meaning of Christmas—celebrating the birth of Jesus. Instead of buying gifts for each other, we made them. My daughter, who now has a daughter, still talks about the play stove I made for her. A few pieces plywood left over from our shipping crates painted white, a set of hinges for the oven door, some red paint for the burners and knobs, and she was ready to cook for her dollies. She played with it for the entire time we lived in Africa, and we gave it to friends when we returned the States.
The one credible fact about Christmas is that Jesus was not born on December 25. This was a date set aside to honor His birth as our Savior. The exact date really does not matter. Rather the biblical meaning should be the center of attention. Problem is through the years, traditions and the marketing world have hijacked the season. Let me clarify that I am not opposed to the holidays or tradition. Yet, good traditions can become bondage when we feel we have to do certain things because we have always done it that way and we dare not change. My question has always been, “why?”
As I am writing this, it is three days before Thanksgiving Day. This morning on the news, one reporter interviewed people already camping on the sidewalk at stores waiting for Black Friday. This particular Friday has evolved from merely a normal shopping day after Thanksgiving, to stores opening early in the morning, and now some opening late Thanksgiving afternoon. Instead of people celebrating with their family, they rush out after they eat in order to shop. Again, I ask, “why?”
Of course, from the store’s perspective, the answer is simple—money. The marketing world has developed advertising that can manipulate people into discontentment by taking their wants and making them needs or even creating new needs. “You have to have this because you or your children will not survive if you do not buy it. And think of all the money you are saving.” In 2011, people spent an average of $704 per person on gifts with $403 of that spent for children’s presences. “Why?”
From the Christian consumer’s perspective, we need to stop and to examine the “whys” and our motivation. Why am I spending all this money on gifts that the recipients will forget by next week? Has the advertising world trapped me in discontentment? Is this biblical stewardship? Am I content? Is this what God intends for a season meant to celebrate the birth of His Son?
While in prison, Paul wrote the church at Philippi, I have learned to be content (Php 4:11). Some might be tempted to think, “Oh! Paul must have been wealthy.” Paul adds in next verse, I am content with humble means, or when living in prosperity; I am content when I am filled, or going hungry; I am content when I have abundance or when suffering need. In fact, Paul said, he was content in any and every circumstance (v12) —even in prison. Obviously, true contentment has nothing to do with external possessions or circumstances. We cannot buy contentment nor is it a gift from God. It does not happen automatically. As Paul, we must learn this attitude of inward self-sufficiency, because Christ is in us and through Him, we can do all things. Content denotes a mind satisfied with one’s lot in life because we have Christ and He is enough.
My family tradition since I was small boy was coming together on Christmas Eve, eating, exchanging gifts, and going to the grandparents on Christmas Day. But now with Donna and I being the grandparents and our children with their families living in various distant locations, change was inevitable. And who mandated because we always did it that way, it must be the same? It was a good tradition, but we are learning we must be open to doing something different as our lives change. This year we will celebrate our family Christmas on the Saturday following Christmas, less one son and his family who are unable to come this year. But what difference does it make? We are learning contentment with what we now have and refuse to be discontent over what we use to have. Our gift giving has decreased as the size of the family as increased. But who said we had to spend $704 per person on gifts? [I never did]. What greater gift can we give than the witness of a contented life in Christ?
Sustaining Word for the Week:
Our most precious possession is our relationship with God, made possible through Jesus Christ. Let us celebrate His birth in the coming weeks—Tis the season to be joyfully content.