Christmas Cheer-- Friends and Family Visit

We've had a very pleasant two days, visiting yesterday with Julian and today with my parents and brother. Activities were casual, but conversation and fellowship were rich and fun.

In the category of random asides-- the movieMust Love Dogs is a "must skip" in our book. It definitely portrays the sad effects of a secularized culture on marriage and, really, all relationships. As we were watching it, I thought that the happiest any of the characters ever were (at least until the inexplicably convenient ending) was one scene when the brother who was too drunk to know what was going on. Although we were rooting for John Cusak's character, it wasn't really that enjoyable and simply felt like no one involved in that movie even knew anyone who had a clue about a truth that provides guidance and hope.

Too much about the movie. We really enjoyed the time with friends and family recently, not only this week but also last week during our staff training time. I hope you are also able to enjoy fulfilling fellowship with friends and family during the Christmas season.


Today I did realize how easily the dangerous materialism can creep into our well-intentioned gift-giving. I began to feel frustrated at trying to get the best gifts for Amber, not knowing for sure what would be good, fearing the things I already have aren't what she wants most, and wanting to have something she'd enjoy, something that would be fun for her. But my basic motive was that I wanted to communicate my love to her. And I knew that she didn't really care about the gift itself that much. But somehow the plethora of options and the expectations we feel from society around us convolute the gift-giving and make it quite an ordeal.

Bottom line: it's helpful to see the dangers and guard against whatever idols we find. In my particular case, the idol is probably best identified as a desire to build myself up through the gift-giving. But I definitely have seen my inappropriate desire for different things for myself, as well.

And I'm convinced we can best fight idolotry with love and worship for Christ. At breakfast this morning Julian shared some of what he's been learning-- one point that "the power of new affections" affects the changes we experience as we mature. When we were children we desired things which don't hold our interest now. And the best thing for fighting our sinful desires is a stronger desire for Christ; as our affection for Him increases, we find we have no appetite for other things apart from His reign. He is that worthy, that glorious! Our desires are met, and we find purpose and happiness in Him.

What better to celebrate than Christ? Christmas marks the incarnation, Jesus' act described in Philippians 2: "not counting equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men..." And we know that this humility reflects His glory-- that He would go to such lengths for our salvation. His love for us is an amazing aspect of His glory!

Merry Christmas-- May you enjoy Christ and your fellowship in Him.