It’s Christmas. Or nearly so. The season of getting, right? The season of accumulating
the biggest stack of cards and the tallest pyramid of presents, right? The season
of making our lists and handing them off to someone else to fill. Oh, wait.
That makes it sound a lot more like standing in line at the pharmacy with our
list of prescriptions (which I did for an hour the other day to try to get Dad’s
new meds filled).
Well, of course that’s not it. No, we all can rattle off the
real reason for Christmas—giving, right?
Well, sort of. The Christmas story in one verse pretty much boils down to: GodsolovedtheworldthatHe GAVE …
The way that reads gets close to my usual understanding of the verse—to me it's always been all about celebrating the giving of Jesus Christ as the sacrifice for my sin, the Savior of my soul, the initiator of my new life as a reborn-in-spirit person destined now for eternity in heaven.
But what if the real meaning isn’t about the giving any more than it is about the
getting? What if the real motivation is hidden in that quickly glossed-over
section of John 3:16:
For GOD so LOVED …
I suspect that the essence of the true story of the birth and death of the Son of God is wrapped up in those two words: God loved. The all-sufficient Creator of the vast expanses of universe and the tiniest quark and everything in between needed nothing. He wanted for nothing. And if He had wanted anything, He could merely breathe or speak it into existence. That, in fact, is exactly what He did when He wanted to express His vast store of creativity.
And yet, because His heart beats with kindness, with compassion, with unmerited mercy, with amazing grace, with longing, with love for the helpless beings He created in His own image—because of all that, He did something about our condition—He gave Himself away to be subjected to unspeakable torture. But again, the giving away isn’t the big story here—it’s all about that amazing God-love that was behind the scenes of the giving. Fueling and motivating and underwriting it.
In the same way, the story of holding Christmas in our
hearts and expressing it year round to the people in our lives who need it
daily, is equally less about the giving we do and more about the motivation for
that giving. As caregivers, we do give. It’s in the job description, if you’ll
recall an earlier entry in this blog. In fact, so pivotal is giving to our
calling that it’s in our title!
But the motivation of the giving means everything. Do we
give our time and energies to our ailing, aging loved ones out of duty. (God
said to honor our parents, so I’m going to do it if it kills me?) Is it out of
guilt? Is it out of a desire for others to hold us up on pedestals (what a
sweet daughter you have!)? Is it out of anger or frustration? Is it out of
sheer grit and determination?
Some days, our caring may be tinged with these—on our less-than-good
days. But I love the truth that as believers in Christ, as recipients of the
God-love that reached down to us in the incarnation of Jesus Christ, we gain
the potential of reflecting and exhibiting that God-love in the real world where we live. I suppose that’s why
God made such a big deal in my life earlier this year (in February, as you’ll
recall) about returning to my first love in Him. Because in my growing cold of
heart, my calling was running even colder yet. And He wanted something better
for me, better for my parents … He wanted it all to be done in love.
Getting up before dawn to make breakfast and shuttle Dad off to his blood test--done in love. Spending the day in the waiting room with Mom preparing for her surgery—all about love. Advocating for them both--because of love. Interpreting confusing documents—even that's with love. Giving shots. Ordering meds. Just sitting and listening to whatever is most important to them—maybe the most love-gesture of all.
So my Christmas challenge—to myself first, and you’re free
to take it up for yourself if you’d like—comes from 1 John 4:
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows
God. Anyone who does not love does
not know God, because God is love. In
this the love of God was made
manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might
live through him. In this is love,
not that we have loved God but that
he loved us and sent his Son to be
the propitiation for our sins. Beloved,
if God so loved us, we also ought to
love one another. No one has ever
seen God; if we love one another,
God abides in us and his love is
perfected in us. 1 John 4:7-12
Let’s ask for our heavenly Christmas gift this year to be
all about expanding our capacity to love God and love each other as God loves
us. Let’s ask for the ability to live out this love in such a way that anyone
who does not know God and has never seen Him—will see Him unmistakably in us as
we care lovingly for our aging parents. Maybe then we’ll all get a healthier
perspective on the real meaning of Christmas:
For God so loved the world, that
he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have
eternal life. John 3:16
A blessed Christmas to you and your loved ones – from our
house to yours!
Julie
© 2011, Julie-Allyson Ieron. All rights reserved. For reprint permission, email: orders@joymediaservices.com. Scriptures quoted from ESV unless otherwise indicated.
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