Rejecting Jesus during Christmas

A billboard from American Atheists at
Times Square, NY

Many of us go into the Christmas season with lot of expectations - it is supposed to be a joyous time of the year, a time for family, a time to share gifts, a time to slow down and listen to the holiday music playing nonstop on the radio. But I don't feel all too happy this time of the year - things just didn't pan out the way I was hoping. I feel rejected during one of the happiest time of the year. I hope and pray that I am the only one who feels this way, but I know I am not. 

For most of us, Christmas is a time when we are anxious, frustrated and desperate. We spend months planning and making lists of things to do during Christmas. We park a mile away from the mall and fight the crowd to get around the stores, only to find out that half of the stuff on our shopping list is out of stock. We wait on an endless line to pay for the useless stuff we bought as gifts only to face the smirk of a cashier who would inform us in a less than sympathetic way that our credit card has been declined.
Regardless of all the planning, something always go wrong at the Christmas parties. It is also a time when we are forced to spend time with those relatives we love to hate. American Atheists (AA) spent hundreds of thousands of dollars every year during Christmas to promote the "holidays". They want all those who have difficulty believing in Jesus to have a good time without feeling guilty about celebrating the birth of the Savior. So they come up with these catchy slogans such as "Keep the Merry, Dump the Myth". But are we really happy during the Christmas season? Is it happiness that we get during endless hours of shopping and partying? I know a lot of people who just can't wait for Christmas to be over. If it is so much fun, then why do we ever want it to be over? 

Rejecting Christ during Christmas is nothing new, it was there from the very beginning. It began when Joseph and Mary arrived in Bethlehem, and "there was no room for them in the inn". The innkeeper didn't deny them room because they were poor, but because the inn was full. The inn was filled with people of this world, and the innkeeper was happy with what he had. This is something we do everyday - filling our lives with people and matters of  this world. And when Jesus come knocking, we fail to find room for Him. Like the innkeeper, we too don't lie that we are full, we too don't deny Him because He is poor, we too don't deny Him consciously; we deny Jesus because we have our priorities set to ways of this world. In order to take Jesus in, we will have to make room by sacrificing something of this world. But it is too painful to let go off anything that I already have acquired - it is not easy to abandon the earthly pleasures and cares. However it is easier not to accept, especially the poor and helpless human child, even if he is the only Son of God, the Creator of heaven and earth. 

The irony is that rejecting Jesus is not making us happy, it only gives us the illusion of happiness. Even when we are full, we feel a big void in our lives. Depriving Jesus exposes our depravity - it demonstrates our need for Him to fill us up. By allowing Jesus room in our life and by enjoying the world through Him, we will find true happiness. I am not happy today because I struggle with finding room for Jesus in my life. I am frustrated because I feel that God is not doing enough to help me. But I also know that I am not allowing God to take His rightful place in me - to lead me out of hatred into love, out of injury into healing, out of doubt into faith, out of despair into hope, out of darkness into light, and out of sadness into joy. 

"Who among you fears the LORD,
      heeds his servant's voice?
 Whoever walk in the darkness,
      without any light,
  Yet trust in the name of the LORD
       and rely upon their God!
  All you who kindle flames
       and set flares alight,
  Walk by the light of your own fire
       and by the flares you have burnt!
  This is your fate from my hand:
       you shall lie down in a place of torment." (Isaiah 50:10,11)