When Jesus was born, love lit the world in a brightness that would never be diminished or destroyed. Satan had other plans, to stop love in the name of hate. Love against hate: this is the great struggle of mankind, the one we’ve got to win. Our world is filled with ideological conflicts and morality conflicts, with getting and grabbing, giving and serving, desperate longings and total despairs. If we look beyond this world of appearances we can see the eternal struggle between love and hate. Which one is winning in your life? If hate exceeds the amount of love in our hearts, life sinks. Love is pleasant, pure, pleasurable. Hate is miserable, malicious, maddening. Why would anyone chose hate instead of love? The Christmas story resonates love, but hate was on the heels of those gathered around God’s Son in that manger. The enemy was busy lining up people that would hurt, hinder, and hate Jesus and the good news He brought to mankind. His parents and His Father provided love and leadership as He faced struggles throughout his lifetime. Most of the Pharisees despised Him, family members disregarded him, friends ditched him, Satan deceived him and never gave up trying to destroy him, all in the name of jealousy and hate. Jesus brought love and light. His teachings, short stories known as parables, and lifestyle was different, daring, and definitely not accepted by those in authority, those who professed to be Godly leaders. Even family members questioned him and his ministry, saying he was just the son of a carpenter. While that’s hard to imagine, hate slithers in and separates us, keeping us grounded in cycles of sin and sadness far from the good life intended by God. God’s love was so powerful that He sent His son to save us and give eternal life. He was King of Kings and could do mighty things, even when tempted in the desert. Yet, He chose humility, loving us enough to go all the way to the cross. Jesus died on that cross to restore that which was lost. He was human and hated what he would endure to ensure victory. He didn’t want to drink from the cup, but knew there was no other way. Nothing self centered about Christ! What about us? Have we given up childish self-centeredness? We can’t stand opposition, temptation, and tough times. Our vision is limited and love wanes when we don’t get our way. What we need most is to give and receive love. We can’t fully love others when our main concern is for ourselves. Is your soul sick or healthy? The sick soul is all about self; the healthy soul revolves around its life task in the service of other people. This important truth reflects the wisdom of all the world’s great religious faiths: “Thou shalt love the Lord the God with all thy heart and soul and mind, and thy neighbor as thyself.” Can we not see why this is the first and most important commandment? God is love! No matter what we do on this earth, how good we are, how many degrees we acquire, how much we suffer in our service to our Lord and to those we love, how wealthy and influential we are, how successful we are, if we do all these things without love…they mean nothing to our Father. “Love in any language straight from the heart brings us all together never apart” words from my favorite song support the gift of love God gave…His own son to keep us united in love as we live our lives and look forward to spending eternity with Him in heaven. I remember sharing ‘Love in Any Language’ at Union Grove Church twenty two years ago. My message about love ended with my sons joining me to sing that song. Tim watched from the front row as Cameron stood shyly and Clint, only four years old, was perched on a stool beside me. With my arms around both of my sons, we sang our hearts out, ‘love sent from Thee for all the world to see, love in any language is meant for you and me.” We practiced the song for weeks, with my sons begging to bail out , hating the thoughts of singing with mom in front of all those people. The enemy tried every trick in the book to stop us; but our love for one another and the Lord was stronger than the hate and insecurity he used to discourage us. What the boys thought they hated, generated such love, strength, unity, and a memory we will never forget. Tim beamed with pride to see his wife and children singing about love, something we honored and cherished intimately. Sometimes, I close my eyes and see Tim sitting there smiling and shouting his love for us in silence. The thrill of holding up my small children as we sang praises to the Lord still warms my heart today. Those are gifts that keep on giving… long after our loved ones are grown or gone. Share love, show love, seed love every day my friends. Never wait for the perfect time; it never comes. Reach out and touch the world with love; it will be a better place where we can live in peace and harmony. Our duty is to add to the amount of love in the world…not to take away and let hate win. Start sharing love with your own family and watch it ripple out to the world. Stop being selfish.
We can’t fully love others when our main concern is for ourselves…even in the little things. Our attitude toward giving, loving through thick and thin, and sharing love reflects what’s in our hearts…in our homes. I continually seek forgiveness when self centeredness knocks on my heart. Do you remember times when selfishness spoiled sunshine for you and your loved ones? My mother gave our family a trampoline for Christmas in 1985. Her gift brought us lots of laughter and good times together, along with unexpected ups and downs. The boys grew up, the mat rotted, and the insurance inspector frowned on this round risk in our back yard. Deciding the destiny of this gift from my mama, now in heaven, was not easy for Tim and me. My emotional ties tugged to keep it- even if we didn’t use it now. Tim thought we should give it to our neighbors so their three little children could enjoy it. My self centeredness won. One summer afternoon we disassembled mama’s gift, growing hotter and more hateful by the minute. Tim’s gentle nature and notion that we should give this gift away settled in my heart; I knew he was right but refused to back down. We stuffed the springs in huge bags with me reassuring Tim one day we would have grandchildren who would love bouncing up and down on a gift from their great grandmother. I could see mama smiling down saying, ‘that’s my girl.’ How foolish, how selfish I was! We stashed the small parts in our little storage room; the huge silver circle and four legs of the trampoline laid dormant under piles of pine straw until last month. My son and grandson played and plundered in my back yard, a gift this mama cherishes. We walked past the gift MeMa gave Cameron and Clint; he asked if he could take it home for his family. Lo and behold, I was right Lord! Our grandchildren would enjoy this gift from long ago. Excitement mounted as we gathered parts of the trampoline. The legs were lost. Finally, Cameron found them buried in the ground where we laid them over twenty years ago. Three legs were there; one was gone. We searched long and hard all over the yard, in the storage room, but it was lost like the little lamb the shepherd looked for high and low. We never found the long, lost leg; Cameron bought his family a new trampoline for Christmas, and I was reminded how self centeredness blocks blessings and beauty of giving generously and graciously. I repented again as I loaded the remains of the trampoline in the back of Tim’s El Camino last Monday morning and left it by the roadside with the trash. I did it with a heart full of love, lessons learned, and dusted off my feet as I left it there and moved on. I laughed at myself while talking out loud to my Jesus. I thanked him for helping me see the love and goodness in giving from the heart and the heartache and hatefulness in holding on to things selfishly. Surely, Tim smiled and said … I tried to tell her Father!
Is someone trying to tell you things that you just don’t want to hear? Listen to your heart, to those who care about you, to God who loves you and gave the greatest gift so that you can be free and restore that which was lost. He gave His Son, a Christmas gift that keeps on giving when we let Him live in our hearts and homes. Stop being self centered, stomp out all the hate and hurt from your heart, accept Jesus and live your life in love with Him and all that He is. Live love out loud. When we learn how to give love to each other, we will be able to send forth goodwill in all directions and make the world a better place where we really can live in peace and harmony …in tune with our Father who loves us so. Let us embrace love in any language… straight from our hearts and share it in the name of Jesus. Then, the great struggle of mankind will end. Love will win! Amen.
Post a Comment
