Every year, I hear understandable laments about Christians over-commercializing Christmas with their gift-giving. Message received. But gift-giving starts with God and can be a wonderful element of family life that creates joy, a sense of belonging, and a sense of being known and cherished. I’m all for giving sacrificially to the poor, but are Christmas gifts the best place to cut our budget to do that? Let me know what you think.
When renting a car with my wife on an out-of-town trip, I discovered that few things make a forty-something wife happier than warm car seats on a cold winter morning. The seats made her so happy that when it came time to get a new family vehicle, seat-warmers became a non-negotiable “must-have” feature.
Of course I felt a little guilty about the added expense. There are so many needy people in the world with so many greater needs that buying a brand-new car upgraded to include seat warmers teased my evangelical guilt to the forefront. As I prayed through all this, however, I got the distinct sense that God was pleased that I earnestly desired to bring winter joy to my wife, who, of course, also happens to be his daughter (and now that we live in Colorado, I wouldn’t give it a second thought).
I traveled more weekends than not back then, and since the kids were still at home, Lisa rarely traveled with me. If our old car broke down, Lisa was on her own. That added an element of uncertainty to an already stressful life of being a part-time single parent. When I remembered Lisa is God’s daughter, and that God is really into His daughters, buying that car turned into an act of worship. I was serving God by taking care of his daughter.
This episode in my marriage came to mind as Christmas approaches and it’s becoming increasingly popular for Christians to “de-commercialize” Christmas, for some very good reasons. Crass materialism needs to be confronted, but let’s not forget that giving gifts to each other can be a way for us to become servants of the Giver of all good gifts.
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