Traditions Can Keep Us From Truth
- Larry Kutzler
- Dec 24, 2025
- 3 min read
I am fascinated by the theme of the aestheticized Church.
It is so much easier to become a Christian when you aren't one than to become one when you assume you already are. ~Søren Kierkegaard
A friend of mine described how Churches can form opinions and practice doctrinal supremacy around what He called toxic compassion, thinking primarily about the immigrants who are in an illegal status in our country. However, I think compassion (love) must be accompanied by truth regardless of the audience. Toxic compassion, when it is void of truth, becomes a tradition of emotion and remembrance … but the truth about Christmas is lost. Truth and love must be joined for the reality of Bethlehem to have its full meaning. The Apostle Paul writes to the Ephesian Church:
Ephesians 4:15 We will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of His body, the church.
Christmas changed everything.
Let’s be honest, the birth of Jesus (Messiah) brought a complete change in how God relates to us. Everything before His birth was the teaching about God’s requirements. Now, Christ came to fulfill those requirements, and provide forgiveness for sin. God spoke truth from Bethlehem that first Christmas, and it was the fulfillment of His promise to provide a Savior to the world.
Now to my point.
We get aestheticized when we go in for surgery … it numbs the nerves so we cannot feel the pain. However, if we get aestheticized by the traditions of Christmas, we will never understand the real reason Jesus came. Christmas invokes a host of memories for most Americans, and it is the traditions that we remember. However, traditions can anesthetize the truth of Christmas’ past, and all that is remembered is unto us a child is given. Joy to the world is meaningful only if we connect the birth of this child to the reason He came. Perhaps I may be making a case that does not need to be made because the traditions do tell the story of His birth, but it must be connected to why He came. As Kierkegaard said, “to assume you are a Christian when you are not,” was my life growing up. I thought I was a Christian for more than 20 years, celebrating all Christmas songs, and traditions only to find out I never really understood Christmas, and ultimately never knew God. I had no clue about God’s requirement in having a relationship with Him, in knowing Him beyond the songs and festivities. Jesus did not come to start a new religion for this main reason … we were not designed for religion; we were designed for relationship. The message of Christmas is all about God setting up our relationship with Him through His Son, Jesus. This is the missing piece our traditions overlook.
Christmas, a time of year to discover that Bethlehem was the beginning of a Savior’s journey, from the stable to the Cross. It was by that Cross where we get:
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Merry Christmas 2025
Challenging the Culture with Truth … Larry Kutzler