The Christmas season is upon us once again. Have you noticed that it seems that every year there seems to be more of a push to secularize the celebration of the birth of Christ? Even the holiday greeting of: “Merry Christmas” has fallen on some rough times as of late. I heard of a Seattle area school district that recalled its December lunch menus for 23 elementary schools because they were printed with the greeting “Merry Christmas”. The greeting on the 11,500 menus was changed to “Happy Holidays” at a cost of $494. We need to go against this secular flow and greet people with a good-hearted “Merry Christmas”.
Did you know that on that first Christmas, God sent angels to greet several people with the first: “Merry Christmas”? His greetings brought them more than good cheer and warm fuzzy feelings. God announced to Joseph, the coming birth of His Son through the Virgin Mary. Joseph was to fear not and take Mary as his wife. God also sent an angel to greet Mary that she would be the mother of the Son of God. God sent angels to greet the shepherds also. They were told to make a personal investigation to see where the baby was born. They also made a verbal proclamation to everyone they met that a Savior has been born in Bethlehem. God also gave a special Christmas greeting to the whole world in Luke 2:10,11: “Then the angel said to them, Do not be afraid, for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord”.
Merry means to be happy, to be blessed. When we wish someone a merry Christmas we desire that they would be cheered and encouraged by the message of that first Christmas. I know of no better way to have a merry Christmas than to accept the gift that God gave to the world so many years ago. Receive Jesus as your Savior and you will be sure to have a merry Christmas.