Christmas (p)resents-
Proverbs 19+
4 Wealth attracts many friends,
but a poor man is separated from his friend.
6 Many seek a ruler’s favor,
and everyone is a friend of one who gives gifts.
7 All the brothers of a poor man hate him;
how much more do his friends
keep their distance from him!
He may pursue them with words,
but they are not there.
17 Kindness to the poor is a loan to the
Lord,
and He will give a reward to the lender.
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My friends from childhood were talking about hating or not hating Christmas music.
Some of the family did and some didn't. (They happen to Jewish) and I made a joke or two with them, But it got me thinking about the Christmas season in general.
Dr. David Jeremiah (http://www.davidjeremiah.org) has had some radio shows and devotionals about some of the things I was thinking about including Christmas music and missing Christmas emotionally and spiritually if not physically. The devotionals are very succinct so I recommend going through them for this week.
Read the story of the banker who locked himself in the bank vault!
I want to focus on missing Christmas and some of the many things that can get lost at this time of year.
Mainly, I want to give you something to think about as we go through this season.
Everyone loves to give gifts away...Well, almost everyone.
Everyone loves to receive gifts.
How much do these gifts usually mean 6 months out?
Not as much as they seemed to on Christmas day for most people.
What would mean something to last until next Christmas?
Who smiles on the outside but dies on the inside?
Who is lonely even in a crowded room?
Who feels generosity throughout the year in both financial and emotional areas?
Who feels rejected and suffers in silence because no one really cares?
Who goes for a day or longer without even hearing something kind from another human being?
Who spends so much time worried, anxious, etc about buying gifts, being at a gathering, giving an expensive enough gift, buying enough for their kids?
Who gives to the needy as generously the rest of the year as they do at Christmas time?
Who visits the incarcerated? Checks on the sick? Calls someone to see how they are *really* doing? (Birthdays and holiday DO NOT COUNT!)
Who has been resentful or ungrateful about gifts received OR *not* received?
Who has been resentful or angry about giving a gift and the recipient was ungrateful?
What else can you think of that takes away from how we *should* experience Christmas?
How should we *present* Christmas?
Last questions:
Are you on one side or the other of any of those questions?
What are you willing to change this year and how committed are you?
Think about it...
Epilogue:
BTW, I hate Christmas music too!
In His name, and on the sign of the rebel, Jesus! -Just L.
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