Christmas Idols
‘Tis the season to make Idols, fa la la la la….
Idols at Christmas… now that’s not a very festive title now is it?
After all, it’s the time for parties and cookies and shopping and decorating. It’s the season of giving and dropping coins in the S@lvation Army bucket and picking out that perfect gift and warm fuzzy Christmas cards and the smells of holiday baking… how could this season of celebrating Christ’s birth possibly be the season in which we create more idols for ourselves? And no, I didn’t hang golden calves on my tree this year. That’s sooo 2008.
Ok, serious stuff. I’ve seen (and admittedly) created many idols in my life. I’ve patted myself on the back when my kids’ have behaved well at a restaurant (pride!)… making my wonderful parenting skills an Idol. (HA. God has since humbled me, oh how He has humbled me!) I’ve also seen parents set up their children as idols… when they refuse to acknowledge that their child just might have sinned, they then have a little idol-spawn living among them. I’ve seen parents shove their kids’ sin under the rug for fear of exposure and embarrassment… which is saying their child’s reputation is more important than their holiness! Yikes! Idol alert!
And of course we know the typical idols: money, fame, reputation, careers, well-kept homes, people, church, and even the pastor (Don’t worry pastor Doug, I still think you’re awesome ;) and the list goes on and on. And we can make ourselves idols by focusing too much on our health, exercise, diet- not bad things, but bad things when they distract us from what we are supposed to worship. A friend of mine says it much better than I do, she refers to us all as The Worshippers (shout out to Jaimie.) And we are. We are created to worship! But we are created to worship Him and Him alone.
So why am I picking on Christmas? We all gawk at the rampant commercialism of the holidays. We all give lip service to ‘simpler’ times when we weren’t pepper spraying each other in the W@l Mart line. But we must remember: Satan is crafty. He knows the business and even chaos of the season can be used to work against us. He knows holiday cheer can turn to holiday stress in an instant. He knows that we can turn our to-do list into a list of ways to distract us from the real purpose of the season: to worship Him.
Let’s start with holiday traditions. Traditions can be wonderful ways to celebrate the blessed birth so long ago. Candlelight services. Baking cookies for the neighbors. Christmas caroling. Shopping for the less fortunate. Going to see the decorations at the mall. Throwing a class party. All sweet, noble traditions. But the instant they become stressful, they become a tool of Satan, and we’ve lost the worship. They become an idol because we are doing them out of impure motives: to please those watching instead of Him.
I know people who have mental to-do lists that must be checked off each Christmas. Somewhere in their minds they have decided that if these things are not done (noble things) then they have not been a good Christian amid the most Christian of holidays. How is this honoring to the Lord? It is legalism… a most wicked Idol.
So what if you don’t host the neighborhood Christmas party this year. Is your standing with the Lord compromised? Hardly. Is your reputation as the ‘hostess with the mostess’ compromised? Here’s your idol. There is nothing wrong with hosting, don’t misunderstand… but hosting for that pat on the back is akin to announcing your tithe. Do it for the sake of serving and enjoy it for what it is… not for the praise of man. Of course you can be salt and light… but you are more likely to be salt and light quietly slipping a note of encouragement to the hurting neighbor or helping with the flat tire than you are having the rockin’ Christmas block party. Just sayin’.
Legalism tells us that ‘we must’ to be OK. God says ‘I AM’ and ‘I alone’ make you OK. The ‘must’ then becomes the Idol. Must attend this. Must be seen there. Must deliver this. Must send out cards. Must be at church every time the door is open. Must buy gifts for ____. Must. Must because it is decreed by Him? Um, no. We are to worship Him. Celebrate Him. Honor Him. And of course serving/delivering/attending can be ways to honor Him… but if it becomes a must… it becomes an idol. His ‘must’ is to have no other gods before Him. His ‘must’ is to be still and know that He is God.
If you must deliver that fruit basket or you will get a nagging feeling that you haven’t lived up to His standard… you’ve just created an idol out of the feeling it gives you to serve (pride) or the knowledge of others that you served (pride again!) If you’re happily delivering the fruit basket to serve ‘unto the least of these’ and doing it quietly without the left hand knowing what the right is doing… then enjoy it as your act of worship!
Just food for thought during this chaotic season! Have a blessed Christmas… and learn to say ‘no’ and be still… I’m certainly trying!
(Disclaimer: theology may be incorrect. May be seasoned with attitude. Hate mail will be deleted!)
J
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