I was recently listening to a program where one of the hosts lamented the commercialization of Christmas. He referred to the large amounts of money spend to show the "Christmas spirit on the outside." His wish was that the Christmas spirit started on the inside of each of us and we didn't focus our time, energy, and money on decorating the "outside" without paying attention to what we have on the inside.
God is good and it is good to celebrate the gift of His Son. We can show this in exchanging gifts and hanging decorations. It is good to be festive, but we should not forget the reason for all of our actions. We should not allow our desire to look like we have Christmas spirit on the outside to distract us from God. We can be sure that all of our celebrations and actions come from God by inviting Him into our hearts and lives. We should have the spirit of Christmas on the inside and then allow God's light to shine out in our actions. This way we can be focused on the one true God and not on false gods of gold and silver or presents and decorations!
Allow God to fill you on the inside so your outside actions are focused on Him and not on false gods!
Prayer:
Dear God-
Thank You for filling my life. Help Your love, grace, and mercy to fill my heart and to shine out for other people to see and know You. In Jesus I pray, amen.