Dave’s Monday Blast – December 18, 2017

As we draw ever nearer to another Christmas, our Lord wants us to value people more than possessions, and Jesus most of all. In The Weight of Glory by C.S. Lewis we read that the most beautiful possessions and places in life point beyond themselves to a “Reality that our souls long to embrace. They are therefore insufficient as ends in themselves. They are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited.”

I have experienced this same longing amid the breathtaking grandeur of Mt. Lassen, the beauty of the ocean vistas on the Central coast, and the tranquil serenity of a Hawaiian beach. And I have discovered that it is the same with possessions as with places..they promise my soul more than they can deliver.

Pastor Jim Denison comments, “Do you own anything that satisfies the deep hunger in your heart for transcendent joy? Neither do I. But when you are with someone who loves you, what does your soul feel?”

This Christmas, let’s “continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name” (Hebrews 13:15). Let’s resist the secularity of the season by making a Bethlehem in our hearts where we worship the Christ of Christmas every day.

And let’s find a way to love someone who God loves, every day. From frenzied shoppers to harried store clerks to friends and family who don’t know the reason for the season, Christmas in America offers no lack of people who need what we have.

Long after the season is gone, what you do to serve them will live in your soul and will honor your Savior. We are the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27), continuing His earthly ministry in a culture that celebrates Christmas but overlooks Christ.

Will you be the hands of Jesus today?