Why is the Mike Huckabee Christmas ad causing such a fuss among Christians? “They are against Christmas!”they say. You are completely missing the point of the season. I say: What a blessing that people are speaking about God whether they like it or not! If people are seeing crosses and aligning 3 lights with the Trinity, how awesome is that?! For me, this just shows that despite what some may try, God finds these attempts to be foolish. Scripture reminds us that God can “raise up stones” to proclaim His glory. Why all the fuss? Maybe it is because we Christians have lost the point of Christmas.

No, we shouldn’t just hide in the closet and say nothing about attacks on our Constitutionally protected right to express our religion (the other part of Separation of Church and State). But we should use these moments to proclaim a message of the Kingdom that God is ushering in through Jesus by the Holy Spirit. We have to get off the ridiculous idea that if there is no America, there is no Gospel. If we believe that, how can we say we believe in an all-powerful God? We believe he can’t do jack without the good ol’ USA.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my country. But I love my God, my savior infinitely more. I refuse to ask anyone to adopt American values, Western ways in order to affirm their full transformation to Christ. That’s ludicrous!

At what point will we see that sin isn’t about actions. It never has been. We are intent on treating the symptoms and not the cause. The root cause is our selfish heart. It is believing that we don’t need God for everything. If anything, we need to destroy the concept of American-style independence because it hinders the Gospel.

Even our churches are greedy and selfish. Think of what could have been accomplished for the Gospel with the millions that have been spent on building huge church campuses and monoliths. For all the money that has been spent (all with the excuse that it is not “wrong” to have these things), why is it that the parts of the world where the Gospel is growing fastest, people meet in secret, in caves, in mud huts, and in open fields. None of the physical trappings. Can we not see our own greed?

I am equally as guilty of not being able to give up my God-provided luxury for a life of true faith. I am also not saying that we have to take a Franciscan vow of poverty to be real Christians. But we, I use that excuse as a reason for my lack of faith that God will provide, Yahweh Jireh. I am as guilty of those Israelites that gathered manna on the Sabbath. Until I, we start believing God, we will live in this limbo of fear of the Gospel’s destruction.

Now that we are in the Christmas, or as I prefer calling it, the Incarnation season, we are given an opportunity to be reminded that God will never leave us, never forsake us (Joshua 1:8, Hebrews 13:8). In the Incarnation the Creator, the Logos came down and put on flesh as prophesied (Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:23). This is the greatest event and the greatest testimony of hope the world has ever seen. Humanity and the eternal God are forever and inextricably intertwined. The fate of all humanity, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Taoist, and all others rests in the hands of this Immanuel, this God-with-us. But this story is rarely told at this time of year because we are stuck in the ridiculous battle of whether retailers should say “Merry Christmas” to you as they guide you to further self provision and self reliance.

Christmas has nothing to do with Mike Huckabee, Meredith Vierra, Wal Mart, creches in public places, Bill O’Reilly, or the battle for Christmas. God is not that weak. But it is a battle for the heart of the believer. It is a battle over whether we believe that God is with us. Whether we believe in his supreme ability to transform us! The battle for Christmas in the world truly can only be won if it is first won in our hearts.

Here are some suggestions:
Employers: Drop the Christmas party and give your people a dollar amount that must be donated to their preferred charity. Mandate that they return receipts within 30 days or have it docked from their pay. This is already being practiced by some.

Parents: Give your kids the time and/or money to donate to the welfare of or adopt a family to give gifts. Lots of places, like battered women’s shelters or rescue missions are in need of both during this time of year. Go with them to give coffee and peanut butter sandwiches to the homeless on Christmas. Only then may they be rewarded with one gift. This will reinforce the Spirit of Christ in their Christmas.

Spouses: Give each other a “Get Out of Jail Free” card. This will entitle the bearer to receive grace, a free unmerited pardon for one or more stupid acts of thoughtlessness during the year. Have a nice dinner together just the two of you (unless you have kids in which case it is important that you all spend the time together rehearsing what the Incarnation is about and how you have expressed and experienced the meaning of the season.)

Here is a “new” scripture for rehearsing the Incarnation together: So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God’s chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ’s love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture:

They kill us in cold blood because they hate you.
We’re sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one. None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us. (Romans 8: 31-39, The Message)

May the Christ-mass, the Incarnation, enwrap you in its unending love