Being Christian on Halloween

Read This:

Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with a heart of mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if someone happens to have a complaint against anyone else. Just asthe Lord has forgiven you, so you also forgive others. And to all these virtues add love, which is the perfect bond. Let the peace of Christ be in control in your heart (for you were in fact called as one body to this peace), and be thankful.
Colossians 3:12-15

Think:

Halloween can be a really, really confusing time for Christians. On the one hand, there’s people dressing up like devils, witches and Kardashians. But on the other, there are aspects of it very close to the heart of Christianity like community and fellowship.

So what is a Christian to do? Should you protest the thing and keep your house darkened or proudly wield a lightsaber as you dress up like Luke Skywalker for the sixth year in a row? Maybe the better question isn’t necessarily about how to properly express our opinions about it but rather how should we take advantage of the opportunity Halloween presents us. When you think about it, our lives are populated with behaviors we do mindlessly. Seriously, our day-to-day routines are more full of these behaviors than a candy basket at a house handing out fruit and toothbrushes.

But if we really paid attention to the intimate details of our lives, I think we would be stunned with the tremendous amount of mundane opportunities God gives us to share His love. Halloween is a great opportunity for this. No matter what you believe, Halloween is a thing culturally and it will continue to be. So instead of turning away the people knocking at your door, what if you loved on them? What if you shared with them authentically and tried to connect? And what if it didn’t stop there? What if that became a mindset that you approached everyone and everything with? Essentially, trying to make sure that every person you came into contact with couldn’t help but see the light of Christ?

That’s certainly a tall order, but, like a trunk full of Reese’s Pumpkins, it’s definitely something worth aspiring to, wouldn’t you say?

Ask: What are some ways that you’ve mindlessly gone about your business in a faith-based sense? Is it your prayer life? Church attendance? Whatever it is, identify those things and make a plan about becoming more mindful and thoughtful about them.

Pray: God, we thank you so much for not being a God of checklists or demerits. We thank you for seeing to the heart of things and for helping us get out of our own ways. Lord, we ask you to come into our hearts and minds so that we can see the things that you love and value and we ask you to help us prioritize them as we should.