December 21, 2023 Live To Give!
Merry Christmas to you and your family!!!! And may each of us be a true reflection of our Father!
Our little eyes were literally all aglow as Mrs. Welch, our first-grade teacher, read The Night Before Christmas to us after we returned from lunch in the multipurpose room at Andrew Jackson E. S. in Halifax, N. C. After each page of text, she turned the book to show us the illustrations. The image of the chubby Caucasian man in a red suit, with rosy, red cheeks, wire rim glasses, and a white beard was already etched securely in my mind even before she showed us the picture in the book. It was an image that had been created by 19th century cartoonist Thomas Nast and published in Harper’s Weekly magazine back during the civil war and appeared in store windows and magazines everywhere during the holiday season.
Early in November, my brother Griffin and I would begin eagerly perusing through the big Sears, Roebuck Catalog, admiring all the colorful toys and picking the ones we wanted Santa to bring down our chimney on Christmas Eve. We knew he wouldn’t. We had grown accustomed to seeing the Red Flyer wagons, and Schwinn bikes we so desired in the yards of many white kids in Halifax and Enfield during the days following Christmas. If Santa belonged to the whole world, why was he such a selective giver?
“For God so loved the world that He gave Hs only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16 NKJV).
Live to Give!
Giving is one of the major themes of the Bible and of God. God is a giver by nature. God is an impartial giver. He is not a respecter of persons (Romans 2:11 KJV). And “You can’t beat God giving, no matter how you try” (Caravans). In Genesis, He gave us his breath and we began to live. In the middle of the Bible, to redeem us after we listened to the devil and fell into sin, God gave us His Son. And the Son, the incarnate God, gave His life for us. In the book of Revelation, He says, “Behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me to give every man according as his work shall be.” So, His very nature is expressed in giving. And it’s throughout the Bible–“Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4). “It is your father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32). God loves to give. He wants to give. He lives to give.
Now, what about us? Are we like the little man who captured my imagination in the first grade, but was selective in his giving? If our ultimate goal is to be united with Jesus, we must strive to be like Him. Paul said, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 2:5). And Jesus said, “I did not come to be served, but to serve others” (Matt. 20:28). In other words, I did not come to receive but to give. He gave good news to the lost, healing to the sick, freedom to the captives, life to the dead, and ultimately, He gave His life for all humanity, not just those with certain addresses. And He did it all with perfect love—declaring, “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down [give] his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
So, right now, at Christmas time and all times, may we all reflect our Father who lives to give!
He gave His Son to die for us. May we live to give!