{"id":7678,"date":"2022-12-22T07:01:15","date_gmt":"2022-12-22T13:01:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/?p=7678"},"modified":"2022-12-22T07:08:52","modified_gmt":"2022-12-22T13:08:52","slug":"3-surprising-truths-about-keeping-christ-in-christmas-a-note-to-fellow-christians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/2022\/12\/22\/3-surprising-truths-about-keeping-christ-in-christmas-a-note-to-fellow-christians\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Encouraging Truths About Keeping Christ in Christmas. A Note To Fellow Christians"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We hear it every year. \u201cThe world has taken Christ out of Christmas!\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Sometimes, this concern comes wrapped up in a scathing anecdote. \u201cI saw a sign today that replaced \u2018Christmas\u2019 with \u2018X-mas\u2019!\u201d Or, \u201cHappy Holidays has replaced Merry Christmas!\u201d<\/p>\n

Yes, \u2018tis the season for people of the Christian faith to get upset because the world is ruining Christmas.<\/p>\n

Well, if this concern in any way reflects the Christmas angst in your heart, I would like to offer a different perspective that might help you.<\/p>\n

Christmas is just fine.<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s true that how the world celebrates Christmas has changed, here are 3 important truths you can take with you this Christmas season\u2026<\/p>\n

1. Just because the world seems to have taken Christ out of their<\/em> Christmas, doesn\u2019t mean you have to take Christ out of your\u00a0<\/em>Christmas.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In my home, and in my heart, Christmas remains a celebration of the incarnation. And this can be absolutely true of your Christmas.<\/p>\n

Our job is not to change how the shopping malls celebrate Christmas. Our job, and our joy, is to celebrate incredible story of God\u2019s love in our hearts, and in our homes.<\/p>\n

2. Christians complaining about how the world celebrates Christmas is not very appealing.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re doing it all wrong,\u201d will not draw many people to the loving message of Christ. A \u201cKeep Christ in Christmas\u201d bumper sticker won\u2019t warm people up to truth of the gospel.<\/p>\n

When Jesus looked over the crowds, he saw them as \u201csheep without a shepherd\u201d (Matthew 9:36), and it moved him deeply. He didn\u2019t complain about them. He loved them. May this be true of each one of us this Christmas, and always.<\/p>\n

3. The best way to keep Christ in Christmas is to let the world see Him in you.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Keeping Christ in Christmas is not about making sure signs say \u201cChristmas\u201d not \u201cXmas\u201d, and it\u2019s not about making sure there are nativity scenes in the mall.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s about letting the light of Christ shine brightly wherever you go. Let people see the luminous glow of Christ living through you, expressed in kindness, truth and grace.<\/p>\n

Many of us have memories of Christmases from years ago when the \u201ctrue meaning of Christmas\u201d was much more apparent in our culture than it is today.<\/p>\n

But be encouraged. Christmas is alive and well, as long as it is alive and well in your heart and in your home.<\/p>\n

Merry Christmas.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We hear it every year. \u201cThe world has taken Christ out of Christmas!\u201d Sometimes, this concern comes wrapped up in a scathing anecdote. \u201cI saw a sign today that replaced \u2018Christmas\u2019 with \u2018X-mas\u2019!\u201d Or, \u201cHappy Holidays has replaced Merry Christmas!\u201d Yes, \u2018tis the season for people of the Christian faith to get upset because the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":7679,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[479,478],"tags":[993],"class_list":["post-7678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christmas","category-featured","tag-christmas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7678"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7678\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7686,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7678\/revisions\/7686"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}