It’s Christmas Eve-eve and I’ve just read a devotional on gifts and giving from “God is in the Small Stuff at Christmas.” Now, suddenly my thoughts have turned toward gift-giving. No…I am not one of those husbands who would dare give his wife an ice scraper, batteries, and assorted candy bars from Casey’s (you see, anyone can learn from experience if they pay attention)! It’s just that our culture has elevated gift-giving to its highest form at Christmas. And why shouldn’t we? Christmas is when God gave the Greatest Gift ever to us. If we are created in His image, shouldn’t giving gifts to those we love come naturally? Yeah, I think so, but are you showing the love of God in your giving? If so, Bruce and Stan suggest your gifts will 1) be exactly what is needed; 2) be a gift they weren’t expecting; 3) involve a sacrifice. After all God's Gift to us meets that criteria. In the book, Harlan Miller offers this reasoning, “Probably the reason we all go so haywire at Christmastime with the endless unrestrained and often silly buying of gifts is that we don’t quite know how to put our love into words.” He may be on to something.
1 comment:
Something in me speaks from within...BUT did the wisemen bring XBoxes and dolls that speak 10 languages ? Maybe remotely the gifts were for Joe & Mary to provide money for their trip back. Maybe 20 XBox games is excessive. Is a full shopping cart clouding the manger ? Christas is speeding forward.
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