A Christmas of options

The past 2 Christmas we have been in Thailand. This year we are glad to be back in America with our family and friends to celebrate this special time of the year. However, we feel that the commercialism of Christmas here is getting to us. There are so many choices in the stores and at the malls to buy gifts for your friends and loved ones. In Thailand our choices for gifts were limited.

What is Christmas really about? We say lets bring back the true meaning of Christmas but are we doing anything about it? I believe there is a strong spiritual battle here in America, but it is not so "in your face" because Satan is cleaver and has disguised it so well. The spiritual battles we face in a "non Christian" country are so apparent, so "in your face". We see it; it's the carved idols, spirit houses, temples, monks and incense sticks smell in the air every where we go. This helps us realize that we are in a place that is without God. There are people there who need to know God.

We don't notice the oppressed spiritual battles here in America as much. There are churches, Christian bumper stickers on cars, people wearing shirts with Christian logos and sayings, radio and TV programs about God. So, we naturally assume that God is here with us. We are blessed to live in a nice big house, to have all the toys we want and have the freedom to worship. But are all these so call blessings a disguise set up by Satan to cause us to be blinded to the real truth. All these things that we are privy to here in America can hinder us from truly serving God. The spiritual battles are real here as it is everywhere else in the world. I pray that the Holy Spirit will open our eyes to see it.

A doctor once told me that he thinks that Christmas is to commercialize here. I think he is right. Commercials has a way of taking our attention away from what is real and taking your focus off of something important to something that is temporary and superficial. My prayer is for all of us to see the spiritual battle all around us no matter how cleverly Satan has disguised it. May our spiritual eyes be open and that God's Holy Spirit will get our attention back on the real reason for this season and not the commercialism of it.