I Hate Christmas..Love, no I hate, no I love........

I have a love hate relationship with Christmas. I know that I love Christmas time because the entire world practically is celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. I hate it because everybody seems to get so crazy. Another reason I love Christmas is because I love watching Christmas movies. One of my favorite Christmas movies of all time is a movie called How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Ron Howard directs this film and of course Jim Carrey plays the infamous Grinch. I especially like Ron Howard’s portrayal of this Dr Seuss short story because I think Jim Carrey is really funny and he does a really great job of bringing that Grinch character to the big screen. Anyone who has watched Jim Carrey play other roles knows that he is really good at over acting and I guess, at least for me, that is what makes him so funny.

I don’t know if you’ve ever watched this Hollywood blockbuster and if you haven’t, I’m certain that I can’t ruin it for you. I don’t think there’s a person on the planet that hasn’t heard of this short story originally penned by Theodor Seuss Geisel affectionately known as Dr. Seuss. This story is all about a Grinch like character that hates Christmas and oh yea, some tiny little Who people that are obsessed with it. Ordinarily, a person hating Christmas would be completely understandable but if you reside in Whoville hating Christmas doesn’t seem to be an option at all. Now enters onto the scene Cindy Lou Who. Little Cindy Who, the youngest of Who people, set out to do her own investigation to try and find out exactly why the Grinch, who was the only Who in Whoville, hated Christmas? Of course anyone who has seen the movie or read the book knows that not only did little Cindy Lou learn some things about this Grinch character, she also learned a lot more about the true meaning of Christmas. Now that’s a statement that is loaded with peril.

I'm not going to get on a soapbox here and argue that the Christmas holiday was initiated to compete with a pagan winter festival. Honestly, I won't argue this because I don’t think debating this issue really accomplishes a great deal. Many well-meaning Christians will argue that if you put up a Christmas tree or exchange gifts you are in sin because by doing these things you are participating in a pagan religious holiday. However, I think it would be good to take a hint from Cindy Lou Who and perform your own personal investigation. It’s just better to draw your own conclusion as to why you think it’s good or bad for Christians to celebrate Christmas? If you’ve read this far, not going to disappoint you, I’ll just give you a few things that little Cindy Lou Who learned about the Grinch and more importantly what Cindy Lou learned about Christmas.

Cindy Lou discovered that the Grinch hated Christmas because the people of Whoville were more concerned with receiving gifts than giving them. You remember, all the trash that the Who's threw away some how found its way up the mountain into the Grinch’s layer. Their trash, the Grinch would wear it, burn it or use it as a trash ball to throw against Mayor Augustus' larger than life photo. Whatever the case, the Grinch was on to something. If Christmas was about giving why were the people of Whoville so self-absorbed and mainly concerned with receiving?

The Grinch realized that the Who’s joy was superficial and it was based on getting stuff, stuff and more stuff. So with hate as his fuel the Grinch devised a plan. Armed with hate he dressed up as Santa Clause and he decided to steel everything from the Who’s that remotely reminded them of Christmas. Every Christmas tree, every toy, every candy cane...he stole everything.

So what did Cindy Lou and the Grinch learn from all this? I need to give you some truth to drop into your spirit, don’t want you to get lost in this incredible storyJ.

Cindy Lou Who learned that family and friends are the greatest gift of all. The Grinch learned that there is no greater gift than sacrifice. The Grinch was faced with saving Cindy Lou’s life or holding tightly to his hate for the people of Whoville and as we all well know love conquered hate.

The gift of Christmas is not about receiving gifts but about giving them. Jesus came as a gift to the whole world and the Scripture is clear that whoever receives that gift has everlasting life Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin [is] death; but the gift of God [is] eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” I don’t care about Christmas competing with a pagan holiday. That stuff does not matter to me at all. What does matter is that this is a day on just about every calendar in the world where everyone is making much of my Jesus the Son of God. The whole world recognizes the greatest gift the world will ever receive and that Gift is Jesus Christ...Don't you just love Christmas?