Holidays are special time of year. For many these days hold significant meaning and warm memories. Interestingly enough, every holiday is in fact a holy day, and holiness is intrinsically tied to a deity; a god of some sort. What deity is honored during Christmas? Is it Yashua? If so, what iconic Christmas symbolism immediately reminds you of Christ? Is it Santa and all of his gifts, or the tree regaled with all its ornamentation and beautiful lights, is it the reindeer and the elves, or the yule log, or perhaps the mistletoe? Are these the images that help us call to mind Jesus’ miraculous incarnation? What about the time of year? Does a day of remembrance set just after the winter solstice point is to Christ or might all these references be nods to a different deity?
Scripture admonishes us to remember that our worship is sacred and must be protected. Acceptable worship to Yahweh must be from the heart and properly informed with truth1John 4:24. According to Got Questions.org “True worship must be “in spirit,” that is, engaging the whole heart. Unless there’s a real passion for God, there is no worship in spirit. At the same time, worship must be “in truth,” that is, properly informed. Unless we have knowledge of the God we worship, there is no worship in truth. Both are necessary for God-honoring worship.”. This means that we have to be very careful not to allow cultural expressions of pagan traditions to inform our worship, because such expressions, no matter how harmless they may appear, are actually illicit worshipful expressions to a foreign god, a strange god; a demon, and such actions are to be avoided at all costs.
So does that mean we can’t decorate Christmas trees, put up lights, take pictures with Santa at the mall, or sneak a kiss under the mistletoe? Thankfully scripture anticipates such questions and more as it gently reminds us that Christianity is not about following a list of do’s and don’t’s but rather about following a person who demands that we think deeper about life. Instead of asking “can I?” or “can’t I?”, we should end up asking “why would I want to?” and “how could I not?”, especially when we recognize the sacredness and preciousness of our relationship with our savior. To help us tackle these issues and think deeper about the Christmas season, we turn to a presentation by our friends at LED Ministries entitled: The Origin of Christmas.
The video content for this article was provided by our friends at Little Light Studios/LED Ministries. Please consider supporting their work.
- 1John 4:24. According to Got Questions.org “True worship must be “in spirit,” that is, engaging the whole heart. Unless there’s a real passion for God, there is no worship in spirit. At the same time, worship must be “in truth,” that is, properly informed. Unless we have knowledge of the God we worship, there is no worship in truth. Both are necessary for God-honoring worship.” ↩︎