Christian Living

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As we celebrate this Christmas season by spending time with loved ones, feasting with family, and lavishing gifts upon our most cherished, let us not forget those among us that suffer during this time of year alone or in poverty, for it is Jesus that lavishes His Love upon us in a gift of salvation that no amount of American prosperity can afford. It is a gift that has cost Him everything and one that is for everyone, especially the very least of us. During this season, let's accept the cost of being a disciple of Jesus Christ, following his example by being carriers of light, and bearers of burdens to a suffering of this dark place. If Christ is in you, then you carry within, the very presence of God and the light of hope for the world. Let us not hide that light, closed up within our warm and loving homes, reserving it only for ourselves to enjoy. Rather, let's honor Him, whom for our sake humbled himself through suffering and rejections unto death, by revealing His light through our lives. Let us take His light into the streets of our communities, into our work places, into our churches. Let us walk with His light into the stores where we shop, into the soup kitchens to feed the desperate, into the shelters to bring rest to the weary, into the hospitals and nursing homes to bring hope to the hopeless.

Rather than spending our money on temporary treasures to show our love to our families, let us, as families, spend ourselves in service to show God's love to those suffering in this hope starved world. To the family who we know who suffers through poverty, let us pour out a blessing of financial relief upon them, and more so, let us honor our King by doing so anonymously. To the elderly widow a few houses down, may we go to her offering love through our companionship and assistance. To the weary and poor who suffer through many harsh realities of homelessness, may we seek to serve them however they need. To the family on the block that is of another race, let us reach out to them and open our homes in fellowship and acceptance. To the battered woman and child spending Christmas hidden away in the shelter, let us embrace them with the arms of Christ. For the many men and women who spend Christmas alone in our nursing homes, may we honor them with our company and love. Let us take notice, this season, of the Cross and our rejected and suffering deliverer thereon. Then take inventory of our lives and ask, "How am I using the gifts God has blessed me with?" Am I using them to bring glory to myself through collecting the latest toys and gadgets and status symbols as trophies to show the world my wealth? Or, am I using the wealth that God has blessed me with, to bring Him Glory by blessing the suffering least of society in His name?

I want to suggest a rather revolutionary idea. This year, as an individual, a family, or a group of friends, in Christ, decide to be an instrument of blessing in the life of someone. Put aside your own desires, your own wishes, your own wants, and chose instead to bear the burden of another in Jesus’ Name. In prayer, decide who and how, and then give your best. Reserve your greatest gift, your most expensive, your most eloquent, your most costly, and give it for the glory of Christ. Whether that is time, fellowship, money, gifts, service, or simply forgiveness and reconciliation, give your best. Christmas is not about receiving what you want, it is about sacrifice for the needs of another, that is why Christ came, and that is what we are called to as His followers.

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