“And
he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the
hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of
the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for
the Lord.” Luke 1:17 NIV
Christmas is all about celebrating the contribution God has
made by sending Immanuel into the world to be our Savior. In a strange twist, we prepare to celebrate
God’s generous contribution with the most busy consumer month of the year. Yes,
we do give, but while we
do, our culture continuously feeds our temptation to consume more than
contribute. It becomes easy
to slip into the temptation to evaluate our experience of the Christmas season
by how much we get more than by how much we give in honor of the great gift of
Christ.
In sending Christ, God began redirecting the big ship of
humanity from going with the tide of selfishness to riding the wave of the
selfless gift of Christ. Christ showed
us that it is more blessed to give than to receive and , through his death and
resurrection, he has made it possible for us to experience this blessing of
sacrificial love.
What about you? How are you preparing to seek the Savior during the Advent
season? Are you seeking his joy through contributing or are
you stuck in the cycle of trying to find happiness in consuming?
This week, take some time to prepare for the
Christmas season by contributing
the to the needs of others rather than consuming for yourself. Ask God to show you a way to serve someone this week and then seize
the opportunity when it comes. It might
mean making cookies or coffee for your trash collector or picking up a task at
work that is the responsibility of someone else. It might mean making extra soup to share with
a neighbor or offering a ride to someone whose car is in the shop. Keep your
eyes open and God will show you. As you serve others, keep in mind how much Christ has served you.
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