Everytime we love, everytime we give, it’s Christmas.”
–Dale Evans Rogers
“Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure–pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.”
–Luke 6:38 (NASB)
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Materialism! That’s all Christmas has become. It’s all been commercialized. Bah Humbug! Yes, there is that aspect of materialism and commercialism at Christmas. The businesses will try to sell their wares and the consumers, well, it is up to them whether or not to buy. One thing for sure, as Bob Welch points out, “Materialism shackles us to self. It diverts our attention from the things that matter most: our faith, our families, and our fundamental responsibility to help those less fortunate. It promises much but delivers little.” People end up loving things that cannot love back, or loving the money in which to buy things.
It is important to realize that you cannot purchase joy and happiness, and it is bought only for the moment. In fact, the buying can become a sort of idol. Some get caught up in the idea that they can purchase love. Buy the most expensive gift, the most gifts, or the best gifts. That will only produce a pseudo-love. A false love that will haunt throughout the life if it is not stopped. I knew of a man who in his business made $50,000 a week, but in the process lost the time with his family, which ended in divorce and his two kids on drugs and serving jail time. Which ended up costing more?
Then we have the other side–Scroogism, I’ll call it. The love of money so dear that it is not spent, but hoarded. Bah Humbug! Welch writes in his book about Dicken’s, “A Christmas Carol, “I wonder how many people, at the end of their lives, wind up regretting that they lived to work instead of worked to live.” Perhaps you’ve heard the little quip, “Nobody, on his deathbed, ever says, ‘I wish I’d spent more time at the office.'”
Someone said that, “Joy is having all you want before unwrapping a thing.” We are to be proper stewards of the time, the resources, and yes, the money that God has given us. It is not to hoard, but is to be enjoyed within a proper setting and within proper bounds. Giving is not wrong, but making it the sole purpose, such as, “I’ll give for their love,” is definitely moving along the wrong track. To not give is entirely wrong as well. As Christians we are to be giving people as our heavenly Father is giving.
In other words, keep a proper balance. Enjoy the wonder of the season, just don’t let your mind get off the true Gift that the season is for. This wonderful season, this time of year should not come only in December but should be found in us all year long. Wilfred A. Peterson reminds us as he was reminded, “Christmas is not in tinsel and lights and outward show. The secret lies in an inner glow. It’s lighting a fire inside the heart. Good will and joy play a vital part. It’s a higher thought and a greater plan. It’s the glorious dream in the soul of man.” Joy to the World! Let that be your theme. Don’t give with wrong motives, or overgive, but on the other hand do not be like Scrooge whom Dickens wrote, was as “Solitary as an oyster.”