Gifts

Some Christmases are better than others. Plain and simple. Some years we will remember forever, other years just melt into a collective memory of Christmases gone by.

Think back to one of those memorable Christmases of your past. Chances are, it was great because of a gift (or gifts) that you received. Christmas 1985 was the year of the Transformers for me. I was right in the heart of Transformers the first time around. I must have received 10,000 Transformers that year. I got Optimus Prime and Bumblebee and Starscream and some giant thing that turned from a motorized train to a robot that walked (kind of). In my birthday pictures just a few weeks later I can be seen holding up my cake and a couple of robot planes.

If I look at more recent Christmases, the picture changes a little. I don't remember the gifts I received as much as the gifts I gave. Christmas 2005 was the first year I worked at East End Christian Church. Instead of spending money on presents for my family back home, I made a video collage of some of the folks at EECC and spent that money on gifts for them. My family got pictures of some of those folks and I asked that they would pray for them. I've seen my family cry plenty of times, but that was the first time I felt so good about it.

At some point we grow up to realize that Christmas is really more about giving than receiving. When we we realize that this same principle applies to much more than just Christmas?

The Power of Struggle

I've always thought that Paul's missionary journeys were unique. I thought he went out preaching the word and no one could refute what he said. I thought that those he discipled got it and never doubted (they may have gotten a little confused - prompting him to write a letter now and again). I thought that he was head and shoulders above his contemporaries and those who would come after him.

Turns out, things didn't always go so well. In Iconium he did convince a great number of Jews and Gentiles to believe. But at the same time, the Jews who didn't believe "poisoned the minds" of those people against Paul and his compatriots, undoing all that he had done.

Paul persisted and cranked things up a couple notches - more preaching, more time and some miracles. Yet still the city was divided. The persecution got worse and turned to violence and Paul left.

This doesn't sound like a tremendous triumph to me. Instead, it sounds like a struggle - much like the struggle we face today.

Could God have changed people's hearts en masse? Could he have forced a complete revival where there was no opposition? Sure. But where would be the lesson for us? What could we learn from Paul if that was the example he set? How would we live up to that standard? What would that teach us about perseverance and dealing with adversity?

Being Liberal

"Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you."

Am I liberal? No, not politically.

Am I liberal with the gifts God has given me?

Peter sees this guy who wants money. It would have been easy for Peter to think to himself, "I don't have $, so I'll just keep going." That is probably what I would have done. Heck, that's what I've done plenty of times when I had money.

Peter doesn't though. He gives the man what he had, even though it wasn't what he asked for. What do I have? What has God given me that I need to be liberally giving to others?