Recently, I had an opportunity come up where I learned an important lesson on how a Christian should act toward their "enemies".
Someone I know is in the process of going through a divorce, and it could not have come about at the worst possible time: right before Christmas.
Upon first hearing the devastating news, there was a certain amount of hatred and anger followed by unanswerable questions of "why". "Why" did this happen..."why" now..."why, why, why?"
Once we delved deeper into the lifestyle that was being led up to this point in time, the answers started to become more and more clear and the hatred for the one who was choosing to end their marriage was growing to the point where I was beginning to look for more reasons to fuel my hatred.
This continued for a couple of weeks as the holiday was fast approaching until eventually, the hustle and bustle during the last week before Christmas pushed out almost all thoughts of that person who I will now dub as "X", which seems fitting for the situation.
That last Sunday before Christmas, I started to think more and more about X, but, this time, not with hatred in my heart. I thought about how strongly I had felt that the marriage could have been saved when I first heard the news. I thought about all of the FB posts I would see of X and their family and how happy they all looked. Then, about how sad it was that because of the temptation of sin being so great, Christmas was shattered for their family.
For the selfish reasons of X wanting a divorce, money meant for the children's gifts were now going toward the breaking up of a family unit. Divorce is so devastating to children involved no matter what time of the year it is because children love both of their parents equally. They trust in them to always be there and nurture them and teach them how to grow up into good, responsible and happy adults. Divorce shatters the child's dream of their "happy ever after". Not the fairy tale "happy ever after"...but the one that has a firm foundation which can stand through the roughest times.
Parents try to assure their children that the divorce has nothing to do with them and no fault lays on the child or children, which may be true; however, divorce takes a firm grip on those precious children and damages them beyond what we can see.
The hope of a lifelong marriage has been crushed and replaced with a small sliver of doubt because, in a child's mind, they never imagine their parents one day splitting apart and leaving the family unit. They see their parents as invincible to such a notion as divorce; so once it happens, their world view of marriage has been torn to shreds.
Once Satan can get a foot in the door, he won't stop until he totally destroys the family.
After thinking it all through, the question came up within me if I should give X a Christmas gift or not. I was very angry at X about their decision, but, I no longer hated them. No matter how much hatred and anger I had felt, I made it a point to pray for each individual member of that family nearly every day. I had been praying for the Lord's guidance and healing for each of them as well as my own.
I had made a statement earlier on during the whole fiasco that no matter what, SOMETHING GOOD WOULD come out of it all...divorce or not. Even today I still stand by that statement. I have total faith in God through all of this, so when I questioned myself on X's gift, I prayed about it. I knew I had to go through with the gift giving no matter what was going on. They were not divorced, yet, and anything could happen before the papers were finally signed and filed.
After the decision came, I wondered how I would explain it to those who might question my actions. That's when the Lord refreshed my memory on HIS own free gift of salvation to one such as me who was also not deserving of any gift.
I kept hearing people say to "keep Christ in Christmas", and the "reason for the Season", and the "true spirit of Christmas"....but, do we stop long enough to really delve into what it all means? We are so caught up with fighting the attacks on Christmas and the manger scene as well as trying to keep up with the many preparations needing to be done before the big day that we miss one important aspect of the spirit of Christmas: LOVE.
It is so easy for us to quote scripture and live an eye-pleasing lifestyle in front of our friends and family; but, when it comes to our enemies, that's where the fur is rubbed the wrong way and it is easier for us to hate or have nothing to do with them at all than to LOVE.
We're all familiar with the scripture which states "love your enemies, and do good to those who curse you, because your reward in Heaven will be great." But, how many of us can claim we have done that...especially in a circumstance involving family members who turn their backs on their family and have deceived them so badly?
The Lord had laid it on my heart to give a gift to one who the world would dub as undeserving. It is not so much for their own benefit, but for my own as well as those around me. It was healing to me to know how much Christ loved me when He offered the free gift of salvation and most importantly: FORGIVENESS of my own personal sins against HIM.
The most unlikely act of giving a gift to the undeserving reaps more benefits and blessings to not only the giver, but the rest of the family as well...even to the undeserving. Not only was it given in love through Jesus Christ, but it is also a reminder of God's love for us and a testimony of His love.
The greatest statement of God's love can be found in one familiar verse of the Bible:
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." ~John 3:16 kjv
So, even if you are "warned" that someone "will not receive the gift" or said person will just "throw it away"; it doesn't matter, because it is NOT about the gift at all. It's all about the GIVING SPIRIT done out of love which expects nothing back in return, and that is the greatest lesson and gift I've received this Christmas.
Someone I know is in the process of going through a divorce, and it could not have come about at the worst possible time: right before Christmas.
Upon first hearing the devastating news, there was a certain amount of hatred and anger followed by unanswerable questions of "why". "Why" did this happen..."why" now..."why, why, why?"
Once we delved deeper into the lifestyle that was being led up to this point in time, the answers started to become more and more clear and the hatred for the one who was choosing to end their marriage was growing to the point where I was beginning to look for more reasons to fuel my hatred.
This continued for a couple of weeks as the holiday was fast approaching until eventually, the hustle and bustle during the last week before Christmas pushed out almost all thoughts of that person who I will now dub as "X", which seems fitting for the situation.
That last Sunday before Christmas, I started to think more and more about X, but, this time, not with hatred in my heart. I thought about how strongly I had felt that the marriage could have been saved when I first heard the news. I thought about all of the FB posts I would see of X and their family and how happy they all looked. Then, about how sad it was that because of the temptation of sin being so great, Christmas was shattered for their family.
For the selfish reasons of X wanting a divorce, money meant for the children's gifts were now going toward the breaking up of a family unit. Divorce is so devastating to children involved no matter what time of the year it is because children love both of their parents equally. They trust in them to always be there and nurture them and teach them how to grow up into good, responsible and happy adults. Divorce shatters the child's dream of their "happy ever after". Not the fairy tale "happy ever after"...but the one that has a firm foundation which can stand through the roughest times.
Parents try to assure their children that the divorce has nothing to do with them and no fault lays on the child or children, which may be true; however, divorce takes a firm grip on those precious children and damages them beyond what we can see.
The hope of a lifelong marriage has been crushed and replaced with a small sliver of doubt because, in a child's mind, they never imagine their parents one day splitting apart and leaving the family unit. They see their parents as invincible to such a notion as divorce; so once it happens, their world view of marriage has been torn to shreds.
Once Satan can get a foot in the door, he won't stop until he totally destroys the family.
After thinking it all through, the question came up within me if I should give X a Christmas gift or not. I was very angry at X about their decision, but, I no longer hated them. No matter how much hatred and anger I had felt, I made it a point to pray for each individual member of that family nearly every day. I had been praying for the Lord's guidance and healing for each of them as well as my own.
I had made a statement earlier on during the whole fiasco that no matter what, SOMETHING GOOD WOULD come out of it all...divorce or not. Even today I still stand by that statement. I have total faith in God through all of this, so when I questioned myself on X's gift, I prayed about it. I knew I had to go through with the gift giving no matter what was going on. They were not divorced, yet, and anything could happen before the papers were finally signed and filed.
After the decision came, I wondered how I would explain it to those who might question my actions. That's when the Lord refreshed my memory on HIS own free gift of salvation to one such as me who was also not deserving of any gift.
I kept hearing people say to "keep Christ in Christmas", and the "reason for the Season", and the "true spirit of Christmas"....but, do we stop long enough to really delve into what it all means? We are so caught up with fighting the attacks on Christmas and the manger scene as well as trying to keep up with the many preparations needing to be done before the big day that we miss one important aspect of the spirit of Christmas: LOVE.
It is so easy for us to quote scripture and live an eye-pleasing lifestyle in front of our friends and family; but, when it comes to our enemies, that's where the fur is rubbed the wrong way and it is easier for us to hate or have nothing to do with them at all than to LOVE.
We're all familiar with the scripture which states "love your enemies, and do good to those who curse you, because your reward in Heaven will be great." But, how many of us can claim we have done that...especially in a circumstance involving family members who turn their backs on their family and have deceived them so badly?
The Lord had laid it on my heart to give a gift to one who the world would dub as undeserving. It is not so much for their own benefit, but for my own as well as those around me. It was healing to me to know how much Christ loved me when He offered the free gift of salvation and most importantly: FORGIVENESS of my own personal sins against HIM.
The most unlikely act of giving a gift to the undeserving reaps more benefits and blessings to not only the giver, but the rest of the family as well...even to the undeserving. Not only was it given in love through Jesus Christ, but it is also a reminder of God's love for us and a testimony of His love.
The greatest statement of God's love can be found in one familiar verse of the Bible:
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." ~John 3:16 kjv
So, even if you are "warned" that someone "will not receive the gift" or said person will just "throw it away"; it doesn't matter, because it is NOT about the gift at all. It's all about the GIVING SPIRIT done out of love which expects nothing back in return, and that is the greatest lesson and gift I've received this Christmas.
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