It is really hard to worship God in a world that works so hard to get us to worship just about anything but. It especially seems to try to get us to worship “stuff”. This little ecard says a lot in just a few words:
Our culture is addicted to money. Whether it’s working (too) hard to acquire it, trampling people to save just a little of it, or spending way too much of it, to the point of going into debt, money seems to demand our worship. Hundreds of billions of dollars are spent every year on Christmas. And while there’s nothing wrong with giving or receiving gifts, it seems a bit excessive. And, there’s a better way!
God doesn’t demand our worship the way money and “things” do. God doesn’t enslave us and require us to bow down. He simply loves us and invites us to look at him and place him above all things. He does this, as the Baby who chose to become one of us, to humble himself BELOW all things, and be born into this world, live here and die for us. That’s something worth worshipping. So this Christmas, perhaps these words from “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” sum it up, just right.
‘It came with ribbons, it came without tags,
It came without packages, boxes, or bags!’
And he puzzled, and puzzled, till his puzzler was sore,
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before:
‘Maybe Christmas’, he thought, ‘doesn’t come from a store’
‘Maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.”
Let’s spend a little less this year on the things that don’t matter so we have the time, energy, and resources to give to the things that really do.
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destorys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” – Matthew 6:19-21