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The Spirit Of The Season We Hold



Chances are that if I were to tell you that we live in a materialistic world, as a true Christian, you would know what I'm talking about. Further, chances are that because you love Christ also, you're just as alarmed by it as I am. So the question becomes: what do we do about it?

In just one example of the spirit of the world that we live in, we note that as we come upon the season that we celebrate as Christmas, we find that from year to year it's driven with increasing intensity by commercial enterprise. In other words: m-o-n-e-y.

The "trappings" of Christmas appear earlier and earlier every year on store shelves and in media presentations designed to get us thinking about separating ourselves from the money they desire. The motivations for the parting that are given are both what we should buy and what we should expect to get. The commercial invitations to spend appear a little earlier and in greater urgency every year. They urge us to save money by rushing like cattle to present ourselves on the materialistic alter of black Friday to satisfy an appetite for "things". I don't stand questioning the individual motives of those who respond, I simply stand in disgust of the source that's promoting it.

The spirit that pervades much of the world does everything it can to marginalize, disgrace and discredit anything we would set aside to honor our God. For example: on a day that we as Christians take occasion to set aside to offer accentuated thanks for what we have by the Lord's provision, thankfulness for what we have is being replaced by the world with a greater call to get more. Black Friday has now finally become "brown Thursday" and the thankfulness of Thanksgiving is being run over ruthlessly by a truck load of goodies driven by money who's in the drivers seat merrily shouting "Happy Holidays!". Thankfulness as a consequence is left wearing tire tracks by the roadside to die without mercy. Where does this come from? I believe that we know ...

I want to pose a question. Not because I know this to be a fact, but I pose it merely to provoke thought about where our hearts really are - to be sure. We know because we study the Word of our Lord carefully, of the foretold mark of the beast. So what it would mean if it were in fact true that the mark of the beast was nothing more mysterious than the love of money and what it could bring?

The love of money of course is driven primarily by the desire for what money can bring. By itself money has no nutritional value and it doesn't bring much comfort or pleasure in currency form. It's what money can bring us in the end that we look for. In the world today it's become a necessary form of commerce and (like will be true of the mark) we can't really buy much without it ...

Thankfully, as followers after the heart of Christ, we're careful and thoughtful with regard to money and materialistic things because we remember these among other words of our Lord:
Luke 16:13 "No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money." (NLT)

Matthew 6:19-21, 19 "Don't store up treasures here on earth, where they can be eaten by moths and get rusty, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 Store your treasures in heaven, where they will never become moth-eaten or rusty and where they will be safe from thieves. 21 Wherever your treasure is, there your heart and thoughts will also be. (NLT)

Because we're spiritually aware, we also know that the spirit pervading our world around us is not coincidence and that in fact it's by careful and evil design. I'm grateful that we understand as the faithful to Christ's heart in this country, that we are being called to be set apart from the spirit of this world. I take joy in the fact that as we give gifts to one another, it's in pure commemoration and remembrance of the greatest gift that has ever been given. As we enter this season it's in a spirit of awe and with the deepest gratitude, wholly observant of the fact that we don't celebrate things, but instead the One who gave the greatest gift to us.

We recognize that as Christ gave the greatest of gifts to us, it was presented in a spirit of humility and grace to people horribly undeserving. As He gave it, it was with the knowledge that we could never do it justice in return. The only things He required of us was our belief in Him ... and love - love for our God and also by His commandment ... for one another. So as we think of those we can give gifts to this Christmas in His Spirit, we're aware by His example that the greatest gifts we could give are those given to the broken and undeserving and that the greatest and most priceless gifts we can share with them is our love.

So this we present in humility and without the expectation of material things in return. By the example of our Lord, we give it knowing that beyond anything else the most important thing that we can give to anyone ... is our love as Christ values it. So in answer to the question - "what do we do about it?" we stand to do this in a spirit of joy, awe and respect in observant honor of His example - contrary to the world. This is what we do, because as He is, this is who we are in Christ. And as the world watches in wonder, we know that as we've been faithful to follow His example, by His grace they will have seen Him through us this Christmas. There is nothing greater that we have to offer ...

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