5 Ways to Redeem Halloween
5 Ways to Redeem Halloween
What will you do about Halloween this year? It will be here before you know it, and it’s not likely you can get away from it. The stores are full of orange and black decorations and every display contains a mountain of candy.
If you have kids, the nightmare has only just begun. Costumes, parties, sugar highs and meltdowns. What are we supposed to do? It’s not like you can leave the country or hide in a bunker for a month.
When I was a kid, I loved to dress up like Dracula or a spaceman. It was all in good fun. We would normally go “trick or treating” and then back to my house for a Halloween party. One year we went to a haunted house and then another year we went on a hayride where crazy people jumped out of the bushes with chainsaws. It was all ignorant bliss, and loads of fun.
As I got older, I started hearing about some religious fanatics that were teaching people that Halloween was the devil’s day and that good people should not participate in the holiday ritual. I remember there was always that one weird kid whose parents didn’t let him celebrate in any holiday.
Somewhere along the way I came across information about the origin and history of Halloween. It seems that the religious fanatics were right. Halloween is a pagan holiday with definite ties to Satanism and the occult. My perspective on the October 31 holiday completely changed.
How could any good person who believed in God be associated with this horrible day. I became very judgmental and went on a personal campaign to eradicate Halloween. I had become that religious fanatic.
I soon realized that my quest to eradicate Halloween was futile, so I jumped on the Fall Festival bandwagon. More costumes, but they were much less scary and even bigger mountains of candy with the same sugar high and ensuing meltdowns. There was no more “trick or treat”, it was now “trunk or treat”.
The thing is, it’s still Halloween. People are still going to participate. Kids are kids and they just want to have fun and eat candy no matter what the grown ups call it. While I may not decorate my house and dress up like Dracula any more, I have realized 5 things we can do to redeem Halloween.
Be thankful. If you are blessed enough to be around on October 31, you can be thankful for another day that the Creator of days has given you. The day will never belong to the enemy as long as we give God praise. “This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalms 118:24).
Be kind to your neighbor. If kids come to your door, be nice, be kind, give them some candy and by all means, smile. Don’t be the grumpy old weirdo who nobody will ever want to talk to again. “Love is patient, love is kind” (1 Corinthians 13:4).
Be gracious. Yes, Halloween is a pagan holiday, and even though you may have knowledge and understand what is really going on, that single mom who has only been to church 3 times in her life, is just trying to give her kids a little happiness without spending her last 20 bucks. The last thing she needs is somebody giving her a lecture and a frown. Give people grace to grow. “Do not judge, or you too will be judged” (Matthew 7:1).
Be aware. Open your eyes and look for the good in people. See past the makeup and costumes and look for the light and sparkle in their eyes. Open your ears and listen to what people are really saying. You may have to filter out some dirty words, but you might actually hear a cry for help. Open your mouth. If you get an opportunity to speak an encouraging word, take it. Sometimes that can change a person’s entire outlook on life. “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver” (Proverbs 25:11).
Believe. God is still in charge. The world may seem like it is spinning out of control and that there is no hope for humanity, but don’t be deceived. There is still hope in God. If you try hard enough, you might see that hope in some, and you can actually be that hope for others. Let your light shine in this dark world and especially during the darkness of Halloween. Ask God to show you how you can be a light this year.
God knew the world would grow darker and darker as people moved farther from Him. That is why He sent, The Light. “When Jesus spoke again to the people, He said, “I am the Light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).
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