Note: I originally wrote this post on December 10, 2018, but failed to upload it.
We’ve all seen the commercials from a particular credit card company: “What’s in your wallet?”
I recently heard a person being interviewed on one of my favorite podcasts. He said that when his kids ask him what’s in his wallet, he tells them, “Cash is what’s in my wallet, so don’t even ask to borrow a card!”
At the time of this writing, we are a few days from Christmas 2018. I’m wondering what’s on your list. I’m not talking about your list of things you hope to receive. I’m not talking about the list of things you are planning to buy. I’m not talking about your grocery list for the family feast.
I’m talking about what you are going to give that you can’t find in stores or online. What are you going to give that requires you to look deep inside to the core of yourself?
And, if I’m being completely transparent, I’m really talking about what you are going to give to the One who is the Source of everything you have.
No matter how hard you worked for it …
No matter what you believe about it …
If the Bible is true, there is one Source of all that is good in the world.
“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” (James 1:17)
If the Bible is not true, this whole Christmas thing is a waste of time and money, but that is a discussion for another time.
When my kids were little, my step-mother (Thingy) taught them a little prayer:
What shall I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb.
If I were a wise man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.
This prayer is actually the last verse of a Christmas hymn, In the Bleak Midwinter, by Christina G. Rosetti (1830-1894). This is not a hymn I grew up singing in little Baptist churches. After all, if you only sing Christmas songs during December and you only sing 3-4 songs per week, you can take them all up with the most familiar ones pretty quickly.
There are a couple of other lesser sung Christmas hymns (at least by my tribe) that have verses that relate to what I’m talking about today.
From Heaven Above to Earth I Come, by Martin Luther (1483-1546) contains this verse:
Ah, dearest Jesus, Holy Child,
Make Thee a bed, soft undefiled,
Within my heart, that it may be
A quiet chamber kept for Thee.
And Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne, by Emily Elizabeth Steele Elliott (1836-1879) has this one:
Thou didst leave Thy throne and Thy kingly crown
When Thou camest to earth for me;
But in Bethlehem’s home was there found no room
For Thy holy nativity.
O come to my heart, Lord Jesus—There is room in my heart for Thee!
Here’s the amazing truth of Christmas: Our lives mattered so much to God that His list for us contained the giving of Himself in the form of a baby born in Bethlehem.
What’s on your list for Him?
Be amazing, my friend.
