Mad Rush

I think it “officially” begins on the Friday following Thanksgiving. People are so anxious to get “the deal” that they get up at some ridiculous hour (3am, for Heaven’s sake) for shopping. People are trampled, fist-fights occur over trinkets, and this year, not that it’s all that unusual, at least one man was killed by people crashing down the wall to a store. But then, it is Christmas!

Let me get this off my chest early. Has anybody ever got up at 3am to go to Church? Have you ever had to stand in line in the cold for any amount of time before you were admitted to worship? Have you ever wanted an encounter with God so desperately that you were willing to do just about anything to have it? I didn’t think so.

Here’s the rub. Christmas is about one thing – Christ! Everything else is counterfeit. I don’t care (really, I do, but it sounds more convincing if I say I don’t) if you have a monster tree, decorate your house, spend your credit to the limit, or get up at 3 in the morning to shop. But if you miss Christ, you miss Christmas. It’s really true that He is the reason for the season. It’s really true that the child born in Bethlehem is the spotless, perfect Lamb of God – come to redeem mankind, reconcile us to God, and provide life, here and now, and forever.

Most will miss that simple Truth in the mad rush to “Christmas.” Christ is not diminished by some calling this the “holiday season.” The Truth is not lessened by one’s ignorance and apathy regarding the gift Christmas is designed to celebrate. It is only that “those who are His” will get caught up in this “mad rush” and allow this time we have set aside to honor his arrival on Earth to pass without our full attention.

That is a sad state of affairs.