I wanted to write and encourage you in this season of what seems like endless Holidays and reasons to be “put on happy”, no matter what may be going on in your life. This time of year we are all inundated with hundreds of ads from salesmen telling us “if you just had this one thing, you’d be much happier!”. Working in retail for the past 20 years, I’m especially worn out of the people buying the lie that says “things = happiness”.
To make it even more difficult personally, as many of you know, my mom passed away last November, and if there was anyone who was always happy to see the Holiday season come back around every year, it was her. She had a way of making Christmas fun, new, and exciting. Her smile made the season seem brighter. With her no longer being here, it makes finding motivation to “get into it”, that much harder at times.
“Why was mom always so incredibly joyful and full of anticipation every year around Christmas time? Do I just need to fake it until I make it? What did mom have that I’m struggling to find now that I’m older, and she’s gone?” All those questions have been rolling around in my head this year, as I try and put on a smile and hope people somehow believe it. “Merry Christmas!” I’ll say to customers as they pick up their orders at work – all the while inside thinking “what makes it so merry anyway?”.
In the months after mom passed, we spent quite a bit of time going through her stuff, trying to decide what to keep, and what to get rid of. One of the old boxes we dug through had a few of her devotional journals that she would write in as she studied the Word and spent time in prayer. Incredible excerpts of how mom thought, insight into her relationship with Christ, and some of the most treasured belongings of hers that we found. As I’ve read through the pages, excited to understand what made her tick, what gave her the insatiable joy that everyone knew her by, and what made her love others like she did, I’m struck by one common thread that seems to permeate the pages of her journals; her DEEP love for Jesus Christ came from a wonderful understanding of the Gospel.
And this wasn’t some sort of watered down Gospel like some of us have turned it into at times. This wasn’t just the “say a few words and get out of hell” Gospel, this was was the deep, inexpiable love of Christ Gospel. She was so moved by the fact that Jesus would give up EVERYTHING for her, including His life, that it affected the way she lived, it affected the way she loved, it affected the very way she saw others. It didn’t matter what you looked like, it didn’t matter what background you had, she LOVED YOU because Christ LOVED her. She GAVE because Christ gave all He had to her. She accepted because Christ accepted HER. She had JOY because as she continued to understand what Christ did for her, it gave her Joy.
Mom didn’t look forward to Christmas every year because she conjured up some sort of excitement about dragging the Christmas lights out of the attic again, or because she enjoyed decorating the house, or because she liked going shopping, or figuring out where to hang the stockings again. No! What I’ve realized is that Mom got excited about doing those things every year, because of what they were representing! Christmas is part of the Gospel! She got excited about Christmas because under all the “foof” and layers of today’s commercialism, God sent His SON into this horrible sinful world when He didn’t have to – to redeem a people who had no interest in being redeemed – to love those who are unlovable, to heal those who are sick, to fill the huge void in hearts who are searching for a Savoir – He pursued us!
Do we truly understand that statement?! A God who needs NOTHING, who could have just as easily said to us “you know what, I’ve told you how to live, I’ve given you instructions in my Word on what to avoid for your own good, and you have refused to listen, so I’m out! I’m leaving you guys to your own devices.” Did He do that though? NO! Just the oppisite! He instead PURSUED us, chased after us when we didn’t care at all about Him! He chose to LOVE us, CHOSE to DIE for us! In John 15 it says – “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” This is a different kind of love. This is Gospel love.
Try and we may to put meaning into old tired traditions, hanging lights, venturing out into the craziness that is Holiday shopping, putting up decorations and miniature houses, over extending our finances to make sure the kids get “just what they wanted” – All that stuff brings limited joy for a very short time on it’s own. If that’s all we use and rely on to make us have some sort of meaning at Christmas, it ends up making us feel really empty.
I’m learning that it’s all too easy to to dumb down the Christmas Holiday season into a bunch of traditions and rituals that everyone easily tires of on their own. We must not forget the Gospel meaning behind those traditions, or they become hollow and unsatisfying.
The joy of the Christmas season must come from the realization of the Gospel being made available to us in the form of a little baby boy in a manger in Bethlehem. A baby who would grow up to give His life for those He came to redeem. Those He loves. Those He chose to offer redemption from sin!
We give sacrificially because HE gave sacrificially to us! We love those who don’t seem like someone we’d be inclined to love, because Christ loved the unlovely – us!
This GOSPEL message should be the reason we give gifts to others, share a warm meal , or write a note of encouragement this time of year. It should be the reason we hang the lights, decorate the house, and send out the cards to the ones we love. Not because “it’s just what we do every year”, but instead because of what HE has done for us. Every other motivation will NEVER sustain our Joy, or brighten our spirits more than just a few moments.
Mom understood this fully. Maybe it’s time I figured it out as well.
mission:husband 