Be generous: Invest in acts of charity. Charity yields high returns. Don’t hoard your goods; spread them around. Be a blessing to others. This could be your last night. [Ecclesiastes 11:1-2 (MSG)]
The following is a holiday pass-along story that has made the rounds on the Internet. Years ago, little Jimmy was shocked when his big sister told him there was no Santa. He tearfully went to his grandmother and asked her. Assuring Jimmy that Santa existed and she’d prove it to him, Grandma took him to the local department store. Instead of seeing the store Santa, as Jimmy expected they would, his grandmother gave him $10 and told him to use it to purchase a present for someone who needed one. Alone in the store, the boy pondered who should get a gift and finally decided on Robby, a boy in his classroom. Robby never went out at recess; although he said it was because he wanted to study, everyone knew it was because he didn’t have a warm coat. Jimmy found a brown wool coat, took it to the clerk and asked the price. After telling her he hoped he could afford it since it was a gift for a boy at school who didn’t have a coat, the clerk questioned how much he had. Proudly showing her his ten dollar bill, she told him that was the exactly what the coat cost and bagged it up for him.
Once home, Jimmy’s Grandma removed the price tag, tucked it into her Bible, and helped him box and wrap the coat. That evening the two of them went to Robby’s house. After placing the festively wrapped gift at his front door, they rang the bell and hid behind the bushes. The joy they felt when Robby answered the door and picked up the box convinced Jimmy that Santa did, indeed, exist and that he and his grandmother were on Santa’s team. That little boy is now a grown man and Grandma is gone. When she passed, Jimmy was given her Bible. It was when he found the coat’s $19.95 price tag between its pages that Jimmy realized there had been three on Santa’s team that day.
I remembered that holiday story last month when our church provided fifty-four Christmas shoeboxes for Samaritan’s Purse. Packed with toys, school supplies, books, clothing, hygiene items, and games, these boxes will bless children in over 100 countries around the world. My husband and I were on Santa’s team while roaming through stores picking out things that a nine-year-old boy and a fourteen-year-old girl would like to find in their boxes, when trying to fit everything into the shoe-box size green plastic boxes, when writing short notes to include with the gifts, and when hearing one woman share her experience of being on a mission trip and meeting Christmas box recipients who told her of the great impact those boxes had on their lives and faith.
As you do your Christmas shopping for family and friends in the coming weeks, why not think about getting on Santa’s team and purchasing some items for those less fortunate. In His parable, Jesus told us that He identifies with those in need—the hungry, thirsty, homeless, impoverished, sick and imprisoned—and when we do something for them, we are doing it for Him. On someone’s birthday, it’s traditional to give him a gift so, when we purchase Christmas gifts for the poor and needy, we’re really buying birthday gifts for Jesus!
In writing about the Sinner’s Prayer yesterday, I wondered if, by saying it, a new believer gets the false impression that his responsibility ends with a prayer when, in fact, it has just begun! Justification takes only a moment but sanctification takes a lifetime. Addressing the guilt of our sins, justification is when, by the grace of God, we are made righteous through God’s grace and our faith. It’s as if we’re guilty criminals, standing in God’s courtroom, and God pardons us. Telling us our debt to society has been paid, He sets us free. While it’s easy to walk out of the courthouse, it’s not so easy to alter the behavior that led to our life of crime. Like any felon, we need to change our ways, which is where sanctification comes in. Rather than the reformation of a criminal, it is the transformation of a sinner.
As she sang, “Will you let me be your servant, let me be as Christ to you; pray that I may have the grace to let you be my servant too,” I reached over to take my husband’s hand. I contemplated the road we’ve traveled together for over half a century as the soloist continued: “We are pilgrims on a journey, we are trav’lers on the road; We are here to help each other walk the mile and bear the load.” As I listened to the rest of Richard Guillard’s beautiful song, I thought it was the perfect choice for a wedding.
Knowing it was important for both the leaders and the people to be reminded of their rights and duties, Moses instructed the people that every seven years the Book of the Law was to be publicly read to the entire nation (including children and foreigners). This reading was to be done following the Feast of Shelters during the Sabbath year.
I thought of locker room speeches today when reading the book of Jeremiah. God calls Jeremiah to be His prophet and gives him the task of bringing a message of both judgment and blessings to the nations. Telling him to get ready for action and not to be afraid, God gives the prophet the Biblical equivalent of a locker room speech and tells him that he will be invincible, as unconquerable as a fortress, and promises to care for him. God’s words had to be encouraging and reassuring to the young prophet.
Looking back, I realize we’d heard a chirp once or twice earlier that day but had ignored it. Busy running errands, we’d given the odd sound no thought. At 12:22 AM, however, the source became obvious and could no longer be ignored. The bedroom smoke alarm was chirping loudly every minute or so. I looked at my husband with envy—without his hearing aids, he was oblivious to the annoying noise above our heads. Since there was no way I was going to return to slumber, I woke him and we replaced the battery. Two nights later, when the same thing happened with the brand new battery, we simply took it out and went back to bed. I’m embarrassed to admit we had no battery in that alarm for the next several months. Since 60% of home fire deaths occur in properties without a working smoke alarm, we were foolish to ignore the problem.
Devotions of the Heart 