After our vacation, we finally got out yesterday to finish shopping for Christmas. I didn’t hear any carols in the malls or see any nativity scenes, indicating that the secular world seems successful in removing Christ from Christmas. Some say it began by using Xmas as an abbreviation for this important celebration. However, the scholars disagree on whether that is really the problem. One illustration says this:
“People use Xmas because it means Xhaustion, Xcuses, Xchanges, Xcesses, Xtravagances, Xasperations, Xhibitions and worldly Xcitement. How much better to make the Lord the very center of our Christmas observance. Keep Christ in Christmas!”
At the other end of the discussion, several websites say:
In the Greek alphabet, X is the symbol for the letter 'chi. . . . In the early days of the Christian church, Christians used the letter X as a secret symbol to indicate their membership in the church to others. If you know the Greek meaning of X, Xmas and Christmas essentially mean the same thing: Christ + mas = Christmas. (For more info, see link )
While words and word meanings do affect public thinking, it isn’t a mere abbreviation that makes anyone neglect or refuse to center on Christ at Christmas. A bombardment of ads promoting fast food only affects those who are not very concerned about a good diet. In the same way, saying “Xmas” or “Happy Holidays” only makes it easier for those who leave out Christ to keep leaving Him out.
The Bible lumps the above X-words in the illustration into a category that is often described as ‘worldliness’ or ‘loving the world’ with a way of thinking and behaving that does not match the will of God and biblical values.
Jesus was in this world, a world that He created, yet the world did not know Him. The first two uses of world are literal. However, the world that did not know Him represents all people who do not have a personal relationship with Him.
When Jesus said John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” He quickly added,
“Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.”
For those who hate the light, leaving out Christ is not a matter of how Christmas is spelled but a matter of not wanting to admit sin and be redeemed. For those who know the Light and love Him, using an X to represent Him cannot possibly leave Him out for He has become the main Person and focus of our lives. For Christians, nothing can take Jesus out of Christmas or out of anything else.
Oh that does not eliminate distraction. It is for good reason that the NT warns me:
1 John 2:15–17. Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. This means I must guard against exhaustion that makes obedience more difficult, stop making excuses for my sin, avoid exchanging the glory of me for the glory of God, quit trying to impress others with excesses and extravagances, cease becoming exasperated when I cannot get my own way, stop choosing exhibitions of my own glory instead of His, and quit letting worldly excitement keep me from being totally excited about Jesus and about the fact that He was born to die and set me free from all those excesses.
This is not possible without Jesus and what He has done to change me — whether His name is spelled Savior, Redeemer, Bread of Life, Lord, Creator, Son of the Living God, Only Begotten Son, Beloved Son, Holy One of Israel, Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, King of Kings, Head of the Church, The Almighty, Alpha and Omega, Master, King of the Jews, High Priest, Prophet, Teacher, Immanuel, Advocate, Mediator, Judge, Chief Cornerstone, Author and Finisher of Our Faith, Lamb of God, Good Shepherd, The Shepherd and Bishop of Souls, The Word, Fountain of Living Waters, Rock, Messiah, True Vine, Branch, Bridegroom, Dayspring, Shiloh, The Lion of the Tribe of Judah, The Bright and Morning Star, The Image of the Invisible God, I Am, Son of Man, Carpenter, The Way, the Truth and the Life, King of Israel, Christ or even abbreviated with an X. I need Him on Christmas day and every other day of the year.
(See references for these names at this link)
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