THE GREAT CHRISTMAS TREES DEBATE!

I CORINTHIANS 11:1: “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.”

OBSERVATION: What is your position on the age-old Christmas debate – “Real or Artificial?” Each Christmas season, as I drive through town and walk through the stores, it appears the “Artificial” crowd is winning the argument. Christmas tree lots are becoming fewer and fewer. On the day after Christmas, leftover trees are gathered into piles to become someone’s mulch. And, to make matters worse…

I too have an artificial tree!

Now, there is nothing wrong with having an artificial tree. However, when you decide to go artificial you give up some wonderful traditions and experiences.

• You give up the yearly family hunt for the perfect tree. You substitute it with opening a cardboard box or tree bag and setting up the same plastic tree year after year.

• You exchange man-made artificial perfection for something from nature that is just as unique and unpredictable as the person putting up the tree. Instead of studying the tree for the perfect side to display you merely throw up the artificial tree with no forethought at all.

• You no longer walk into the home and smell the authentic fragrance of pine that transports your memories to Christmases past and wonderful times with family and friends. At best, you settle for an artificial pine scent in a cheap wall plug-in.

• You stop being personally involved with your tree. It does not need water. There are no pine needles to clean up. All you do is turn the lights off and on. The human connection with the Christmas tree is lost and it becomes just another holiday decoration.

Many will say that this is a small price to pay for the convenience of an artificial tree. All the items noted as negative above can be turned into positives for the artificial tree enthusiast. Yet, to be honest, I miss the yearly touch with the authentic. I miss the family interaction with the ritual. I miss the sights and scents of the season. And, I miss slight imperfections that reminded me…

Everything and everyone is beautiful – in their own way.

Where would the Apostle Paul line up in the great Christmas tree debate? I believe Paul would hold out for the real thing! Paul calls the Corinthian believers to imitate him – as he imitates Christ. To use our tree analogy – Paul would be the artificial tree and Jesus would be the real tree. The word translated as “imitate” from the Greek comes from the root word where we get our word “mimic.”

Paul calls the Corinthians believers to mimic the real thing. He sets the example as he imitates Christ. Paul limits his call to imitation to his imitation of Jesus Christ. Paul does not want them to imitate his past or even his present life apart from Christ (see Romans 7). Paul notes that all of his righteousness is but filthy rags (see Philippians 3). There is no fragrance, no substance, no meaning in a life that is lived apart from Jesus Christ. It is just an artificial existence as void of life as a plastic tree in a box.

“But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” Philippians 3:7-11

Jesus, God in human flesh, came into this world destined for a tree. It was a real tree. A tree of sacrifice. A tree of redemption. A tree of reconciliation. A tree of righteousness. It is the tree that calls us to die to our sinful, broken, lost, and imitation lives and find new life in Christ. It is to experience the power of His resurrection and be united in the fellowship of His sufferings. It is to imitate all that is real forsaking all that is artificial and tainted with sin.

While I contemplate these thoughts my artificial Christmas tree glows off to my left. It is a perfect tree but I am lost, broken, and filled with imperfections. Like Paul, I choose to forsake the temptation to mimic those things in life that are truly dead. I choose to be crucified with Christ so that I can become grafted into the real tree (vine) that along brings life.

I choose to imitate (follow, emulate, obey, worship) Jesus Christ!

Father, this Christmas, I pray that the only thing artificial in my life as I remember the great gift of Your Son, is my Christmas tree. I surrender every area of my life to You. Create in me a clean heart and renew in me the joy, the life, the wonderful fragrance of Your salvation. Grant me the grace to abide in the real tree (vine) which is Jesus Christ my Lord!

“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” John 15:4-5

In Jesus’ Name!