It’s that “time of year” again. The Christmas time when we set up the colorful lights, deck the halls with boughs of holly, and falalala our way around. But if we break it all down, if we take away the glitz and glamour, if we take away the sparkly wrapping paper, and take away the bright lights, we find that Christmas itself is not a holiday about giving and receiving gifts nor is it a holiday about Santa Claus, the colors red and green, nor trees decorated with shiny ornaments, and red and white candy canes. No, Christmas is a holiday about love. It’s love in every gift you give, and it’s love in every smile you share. It’s a touch of love when you said “Merry Christmas” to that stranger on the street, and it is love again that caused you too miss those people that couldn’t be with you this time of year. It is love wrapped up in every carefully chosen present. It is love that tangled itself discretely between the letters of every Christmas song written. It is love that caused that bubbly feeling inside you, that joy. It was love that swaddled that baby boy, the Christ himself. It was love that brought Him down to us.
Perhaps that is why I ask, why do we call this time, “that time of year”? Why must we have a holiday to bring out and act as an excuse for us to express and share this joy that wells up in everyone around Christmas time? Why must this kind of love be confined into the winter months? Why don’t we overflow with this kind of love all the time? You see, love is not always expressed by a present in its physical form, and love is not just the romance of fairytales. Love is the giving up of yourself to bless another. Love can be expressed in a numerous amount of ways. Imagine a world where we gave of ourselves and blessed others the same way we do around Christmas, but instead of confining it to a couple days, we opened up that kind of love to the whole entire year. Imagine the joy that would be spread if every day we lived to bless others. If we smiled every day like we do on Christmas. If we hugged and danced and sung the same way we do on Christmas. If we thought of and prayed for everyone like we do on Christmas. If we gave a little of ourselves every day like we do on Christmas. Imagine if the world ran on giving love. Imagine the problems and troubles that would be solved. Imagine the people that wouldn’t go hungry, imagine the children that would grow up to love others unconditionally, imagine the way smiles would replace the sadness deep inside so many, imagine the way the world would look beautiful once again, imagine the lives saved.
Now stop.
Stop imagining and make it happen.
In the next week many of you will make a New Year’s resolution, and maybe you were going to go with the typical “go to the gym more”, “eat healthier” or “stop that bad habit”. And we all know you will probably drop those resolutions by the spring. But instead of making your resolutions one of those physical things, challenge yourself to simply love. Love with a heart wide open. Love with the same love you have this time of year. Make this “time of year” every day of your year. Because sometimes love is the only gift we can give when we have nothing left. So together, one step at a time, let’s make 2017 the year the world understands what it feels like to be loved with the overflowing river of love that comes only for Jesus Christ Himself. Because there is no greater love than this, than that He laid down His life for us.
Are you willing to lay down your’s–lay it prostrate at Jesus feet–are you willing to love so fully, so deeply, burn so brightly for Him–are you willing to live a life of love that shows others the Love that overcame death itself?
