AH, THERE YOU ARE!
We don’t know what day month or year Jesus was born but most of us don’t care—we only care that he was born. And because he was born we want to celebrate it and this is as good a time as any! Who doesn’t doubt that at this time of the year selfishness and greed reach a new low—a low promoted by the sellers of every imaginable commodity and by people who already have much more than they can ever use. The period of the “takers” is on us but for millions of us—greedy or not—down somewhere hidden and half-suffocated by the “give me” spirit there is the awareness that Someone “gave” and continues to “give” and that “giving” so shapes us that even the worst of us are moved to do something fine and for the best reasons.
Of the coming Lord Jesus Isaiah 9:6 said, “Unto us a son is given…” Of the coming Son John 3:16 said, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son…” Of the self-surrendering Lord Jesus Paul in Ephesians 5:2, “Walk in love even as Christ also loved us, and has given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God…” Romans 8:31-32 wants to know, “What shall we then say to these things if God be for us who can be against us. He that spared not his own Son but gave him up for us all…?” And on that night when he was betrayed to death Jesus said [Luke 22:19], “This is my body which is given for you…” Whatever else this time speaks of for us, it was a giving time for God and the Lord Jesus!
So in imitation of God [Ephesians 5:1] what can we give to those we love best and to those that are unloved? I won’t trouble to remind you that the hungry need food and the naked need clothes and the homeless need shelter. When did you not know that?
Having been given so much down all the years by patient families and helpful communities that have endured much and forgiven us much—what will we give? There’s little point in lamenting what we truly can’t give. Maybe it’s wisest to sit and reflect what we purpose to give. Maybe to make a vow by His grace to turn over a new leaf, at least make it very clear that we are trying—strenuously—to be better and do better. Not without Him—never without Him—always with his aid! But always meaning to get our backs into the work of it. To curb the lip, to silence the criticism, to show more tenderness, to leave the bottle alone, to praise more freely, to exhibit the right kind of leadership, to call more often, to “get over it”—something! Something in the name of the Lord Jesus that’s better than a nice piece of jewelry or a sparkling toy or…
To give our entire selves in specific and concrete ways—gifts that never growl old or break down so as to be useless. To vow—now!—to ask for less and give more. Not to be known by our habitual cry, “Here I am!” and more by this: “Ah, there you are!”
©2004 Jim McGuiggan. All materials are free to be copied and used as long as money is not being made.
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