Sunday, December 17, 2000
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Sunday, December 17, 2000 |
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How to be a Grinch this Christmas By DR. DAVID L.
CHANCEY "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" continues to be the big hit of the holiday season and keeps raking in the dough after five weeks in the theater. As of last Monday, "The Grinch" had earned $195.5 million, blowing past "Gladiator" to become the second-highest-grossing film of 2000. It appears the movie will easily surpass "Mission: Impossible 2's" $215 million take. Directed by Ron Howard, the movie stars Jim Carrey as the Grinch, who in a very mean-spirited way attempts to snuff out the Christmas spirit for the residents of Whoville. However, Dr. Seuss' Grinch doesn't come close to comparing to the Grinch found in the first Christmas story. The biblical Grinch is named King Herod. Found in Matthew II, Herod was the ruthless, paranoid king of Judea. He was the consummate politician who did everything he could to gain favor with Rome. He also did everything he could to spoil Christmas. He was a mean one. How can you be a Grinch this Christmas? Just make the mistakes Herod made, and you'll probably make Christmas a little more difficult for those around you. What were those mistakes? If you want to be a Grinch this Christmas, then push Jesus right out of your life. Herod was not interested in hearing about any Christ child. He wasn't concerned about prophecy being fulfilled. Herod already claimed to be king of the Jews. His country didn't need another king. So in his rage he ordered all male babies age 2 and below to be executed in Bethlehem and the surrounding areas. Herod's problem was that he thought he'd have to give up his throne if Christ came into his life. He didn't want to share his life with anyone, and he certainly didn't want Jesus telling him what to do. A lot of people have that fear. They push God away because they are afraid He'll want too much of their lives. They won't allow anyone to interfere with their plans, position, authority, pocketbook, ambition or lifestyle. They already have a king themselves. So they don't need any help from anybody else. Oh, they'll enjoy the holiday. They'll sing the carols, deck the halls, and even go to church. But they may just be going through the motions. They may have even accepted God's gift of eternal life, but they refuse to accept God's leadership. Does that describe your life? Are you keeping God at arm's length? Also, if you want to be a Grinch, make Christmas a hassle instead of a celebration. Herod brought a lot of unnecessary and unfair pain to families Christmas season. In his fear he massacred innocent infants. It didn't have to be that way. He could have rejoiced that Jesus was born. He could have celebrated with his countrymen, but instead he made Christmas a hassle. Do we? Christmas becomes a hassle when we expect too much, eat too much, spend too much, and try to do too much. Then we stress out over trying to meet everybody's expectations. We create our own Christmas crisis when we take on too much and fail to set limits. We can't do it all. So what should we do? We should do what we can and no more. We should eliminate the unnecessary. We should go less and enjoy what we do get to do more. We should try something new. We should forget about creating a perfect Christmas and enjoy it one day at a time. We should find a way to help the needy. We should simplify. Also, if you want to be a Grinch this Christmas, then trade kindness for rudeness. We've already seen that Herod didn't care about anybody but himself. He was cruel. He sounds like a lot of shoppers I've seen during the Christmas buying season. It happens every year. There's some toy that is the hottest purchase of Christmas and parents go all out to find this scarce item. It's not unusual to hear about some near-riot as shoppers wrestle in the aisles over the last item in the store. Normally sane citizens exchange harsh words as they race through the store. You've heard of "road rage." At Christmas, we have "retail rage." Instead of getting caught up in the festivity of the season, we get sucked into the Christmas rush, and before we know it we've misplaced our kindness. When that happens, we've lost our focus on what Christmas is all about anyway. The interesting thing about Dr. Seuss' story is that the people of Whoville still had their Christmas spirit. The Grinch could steal their presents, trees and decorations. He could steal everything about Christmas, but he couldn't steal Christmas because Christmas was in their hearts. Don't let some Grinch affect your Christmas. You can't control how others are acting and you can't choose their attitude, but you can affect how you feel and how you respond to Christmas. Maybe you can share some Christmas cheer with the Grinches that come your way. One final thought: Herod had to take Christ seriously. He could not avoid Him or ignore Him. He either had to follow Him or attempt to destroy Him. Christmas reminds us that Jesus is for real and that the Father sent the Son to be the savior of the world. How do you respond to Jesus this Christmas? On behalf of the McDonough Road Baptist Church family, we wish you God's richest blessings this Christmas season. (The Rev. Dr. David L. Chancey
is pastor, McDonough Road Baptist, Fayetteville).
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