Grinchin Again…

"Just like the Grinch, some part of everyone hates Christmas." Chuck Jones - director of the original cartoon rendition of Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas - uttered these words as he spoke of the appeal of the Grinch in the children's classic. I have to admit, for an instant I shuttered at the statement.

I mean think about all the stuff that happens this time of year. Temperatures drop and snow falls. Holiday lights go up and Christmas music is on every radio station 24/7. Every two-year-olds favorite refrain is "that's mine!!!" People get trampled to death in Walmart or shot in Toys R Us. It's the most wonderful time of the year… OK, maybe I can't fault Jones for holding that perspective.

The fact is the older I have gotten the more I do see parts of Christmas I hate. Some people are enthralled with the gift giving thing, or may be more so the gift getting thing. Others love the symbols and the traditions. Even others love the time off with (or in some cases not with) family. All these are good, but the fact remains that with each and every Christmas that passes I’ve become more disenchanted with the way we celebrate this season.

So many things have tainted my perspective about this holiday. I feel more pressured during this time of year than any other. You know what I am talking about. It’s the pressure to buy presents for people because I don’t want to be rude, rather than because I want to. It’s the pressure to somehow fit all these guilt induced presents into my ever reduced budget. It’s the pressure to somehow have my house look as obnoxious as the other houses on the block because Christmas lights are the measure of a man. If I don’t stop listing things now I think I might crawl up into fetal position and suck my thumb.

Anyway, as I look at all the stuff that pressures me to hate the season and give up on it completely, something in my soul cries out. As a man who follows after Christ, I am humbled. In this moment I realize that this moment is the very reason that this pressure induced season disturbs the masses – myself included. So much of what Christians celebrate is that God the Son became a man to save humanity from the eternal consequence of our sin. And while it is true He came to save us from hell, He came for another reason all together.

If I am saved from something it means I have been saved for something. You see, the fact that I am saved from hell is a bonus; it’s not the greatest reward. I have been saved for Christ. He has saved me, but that isn’t even the most scandalous reality. He didn’t just save me this one time for keeps throughout eternity; He is progressively saving more of my soul each day to live His life to fulfill His purposes for His glory.

So in this moment I can’t help but whisper to the God who took on flesh, “Lord, in the midst of all my ‘grinchin’ I pray save me once again. Save me from myself and the darkness of hell - which I find by the way I do not choose You my every moment. Save me to Yourself by Your workings, past and present, for Your glory. In Your name...”