What to Give for Christmas
Every year for Christmas we try our hardest to find the perfect gifts for the people in our lives. If I am to be honest, I am a little frustrated by the whole idea of the holiday in our American context. I know, I know. I really don't want to be a Negative Nelly, but I hate the obligation to buy gifts. I despise buying all the junk for others and loading up junk that we received that is just going to fill up the house. I hate spending money on plastic stuff that is here one day and gone the next, when we could put it to better use. And, more than anything, I hate swapping money! All that most of us do is spend $30 on folks who are going to spend $30 on us. I get you a gift card, and you get me a gift card. Some have resorted to simply writing a check to their family members! Really?!? Is that what this is?
Well, I don't have any simple answers to all of these problems. Maybe they are not issues for you and yours. If that is the case, you are blessed! Ok, I've been a Negative Nelly. My rant is over. How about Positive Polly?
In John 4, Jesus meets with "The woman at the well." Do you remember what He tells her? He says, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water . . . whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
What if we gave Living Water this Christmas? What if we decided to do a little brainstorming, got creative, and gave a little effort to bless people with not just material things but everlasting things?!? I'm not talking about making a donation to the TV preacher so that you can get a little bottle of miracle water (people really do that?). I'm talking about having Gospel conversations. I'm talking about spending some time with people and pointing them to Christ. Give Living Water this Christmas, and get creative with it! Let me know what you come up with!