Christmas Cups and Christian Chill
Tis the season when the choice of cup design for serving coffee can make Christians apoplectic. This is in reference to a certain popular coffeehouse famously choosing to have solid red cups instead of designs that are Christmas-y, a few years back. But is that the way Christmas should be, with His followers indignantly policing lack of seasonal participation? There may be a better way.
Christmas Chill
Whether you live in snowy New York or in Florida, where Christmas temperatures are toasty, you can determine to have Christmas Chill, to coin a new phrase. Instead of, for instance, stirring angry sentiments over commercial establishments and their refusal to allow clerks to say, “Merry Christmas,” consider maintaining a completely different kind of attitude. You could focus on Jesus and the true meaning of the season, spend time in prayer, and be cool throughout the holiday season.
Be Chill Like Jesus
The entire holiday is supposed to be centered on the greatest moment in human history. God stepped into an existence on earth in which He was wrapped in the flesh as a newborn baby. He walked in the midst of us without ever sinning and ultimately paid the price for our sins. Without Jesus, there would be no pathway to heaven. If there was another way, why would God allow His son to die an excruciating death on the cross and experience brief separation from him because of the sins of the world? He wouldn’t!
Even though He gave his all for us, Jesus always kept his cool. Even when he violently overturned tables of merchandise, he was providing a very cool picture of how much God hated what was going on there. God’s house was meant to be a house of prayer, after all, not a place for merchants to sell wares to worshippers.
He Came to Seek and Save the Lost
Jesus pointed fingers only at religious hypocrites when he walked the earth. He preached repentance to unbelievers. They were attracted to Jesus mostly because he did miracles. He healed everyone who asked for it, and he famously fed thousands using a boy’s lunch. Jesus loved those people who didn’t know him, when he walked the earth. He didn’t start criticizing them, to draw them in. He spoke words of truth, such as The Beatitudes in Matthew 5.
Jesus was gentle and allowed children and sinners to draw near to him. He made a mark on the world, but it wasn’t with negativity and finger-pointing at sinners. It was with the power and love of God.
Spread Your Christmas Chill!
While others are spreading their favorite brand of Christmas cheer, you can spread Christmas Chill this year, just like Jesus. Get out there while people are basking in the season’s joys or feeling the stress of expensive gift-giving. Simply share the best news ever! There is a God, and that God sent the baby Jesus and, actually, was the baby Jesus. He came to die for our sins so that we might go to heaven. There is no better gift than that, but the world is full of people who really have no clue about God’s love.
You can start by wearing a smile and a Christian t-shirt with the nativity scene or a Christmas Cheer Squad tee. Share Christmas cards with the real meaning of Christmas. Pray for open doors to share your testimony with anyone who has a heart to receive Jesus as Savior. All that chill could warm a lot of hearts at Christmas.
