John 15:7-8 7If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever
you wish, and it will be done for you.
8By
this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my
disciples.
This is
a tricky verse, that is why I included the verse after it for clarity. So often
we read the first verse, and when I say read, I mean skim over. The problem
with doing that is many people read this verse, and are left with a feeling of
less than more. We tend to miss the first part (if you abide in me, and my
words abide in you) and really hone in on the second (ask whatever you wish,
and it will be done).
I bring this up
because I believe this Christmas season there will be many disappointed “Christians”
. When we take care of the first verse, the next verse takes care of itself. Am
I not making sense? Let me point to it this way. Could you imagine Christ
during prayer bargaining with His Father? “Father, I know you love me, and I
have been working very hard down here in Your name, so how about you hook me up
with a new house, you know I don’t own one now, and it would be great to have a
home base to do your work”.
Maybe He
would have asked for God to “give” Him that new flashy tunic that just came in,
or the new sandals with the sole that allows the bottom of your foot to breath…..of
course just saying those things out loud is laughable, It would be hard, if not
impossible to picture Jesus like that. Yet, if we are honest with ourselves,
are we not all like that to some degree this time of year? I hope I get, I
really want, you know what I need?
Don’t
get me wrong here, I do enjoy getting gifts, just as much as, and in some cases
more than the guy next to me (he got socks). What we have to be careful of is
that we do not start to confuse love of any kind with the newest shiniest thing.
We have to make sure that while we all have worldly desires, those desires are taking
a back seat to God’s. What is more important, that your father gave you a car
for graduation, but missed it, or that he gave you a 10 dollar watch, but was
there to hug you and tell you how proud he was of you?
Do you want your spouse
to hand you that perfect gift on Christmas morning, or would you rather them
have nothing to give, but that look of love and desire that they had for you
the first year you were together? I guess what I am getting at is that the
fancy wrapper, and the cost of the gift is what the world wants us to pay
attention to; but the love, the intent, the true gift is found in the one that
has given.
The Jews
were waiting for that flashy gift to show up. They are still waiting today. They
wanted a king, we were given a commoner. They were looking for a savior from
the Romans, we were given a Savior from death. You see the gift God gave the
world might not of looked like much. There was no golden palaces, no expensive
linens, no grandeur surrounding this gift from God. This simple gift however
would change the world, He would in fact change our lives, and eternity. The gift did not look like much, but the love,
the intent, the desire behind that gift was beyond comprehension.
You see
that is the difference between asking for a worldly gifts, and wishing for
Godly desires. It is hard to glorify the Father when we are more worried about glorifying
ourselves. It is hard to bear fruit if you are not watered with the life giving
Word of God, It is hard to be a disciple of Christ, when we are disciples for
ourselves.
When we align ourselves with the
Word of God, when we work to live our lives chasing after the Lord, our desires
turn from what do I get to what can I give. When we abide in the Lord, we will
begin to see more worth in the gift giver than the gift itself. Oh don’t get me
wrong, we all have lists (an Orvis reel with a 8 – 9 ft. graphite fly rod if
anyone is asking) but what we must
remember is hopefully in the end we have given more than we were given, and no
matter what shows up…if anything at all…we know we are loved, we know that
the true gift has already been given, and it is one that while it might not of
looked like much, turned out to be one of immeasurable worth.
Christ did not
ask for much, but always had what He needed. He was always ready to give, even
when love was returned with hate. Jesus did not ask for new sandals, He asked
for love. Love for Him, and for us to love each other. As we enter into this
season, that is my wish for all of us. May we feel the love of the Lord, may we
seek to love those around us, even if it is not returned. Way we all have a
blessed Christmas season.
Brian Thetford
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About Brian Thetford
I am merely what God has created, a person who is here to help with his plan, a cog in the wheel of life. That is where I find my worth, not in what I do for a living, or what I have accomplished in life, but what I have done that extends the Lord’s plan and expands his will, that being said, this is a little about me.I am a husband to a wonderful wife for the last 17 years. I have two outstanding daughters who help keep my heart soft, and young. For a living I am the Logistics Director for a foodservice company. For my love, I write about and minister on behalf of the Lord. It is here that I find my peace, purpose, and balance. I spend a lot of my free time, writing, reading, studying, or talking about the Lord and his teachings. I am working on starting a church in Leander, TX and if the Lord is willing it will be the beginning of a great journey. The rest of the free time goes to my family. As a result, I do not know what the score was for the latest game, no matter the sport, and I really do not care what Brittany Spears did yesterday. Some call me boring. I like to think of it as focused on what is important, my God, and my family.I believe that the Lord has intertwined all of the above into the perfect life for me, a balance of reality, fun, sorrow, and spiritual awakening. I find that for me, the journey is not about going up the road and trying to find the end; it is more about heading back down and helping others get past the same obstacles that I had to get around. I spent the first thirty years of my life on the run, usually in the wrong direction; I will spend the balance on my journey home, picking up as many as I can that are as lost as I was, doubling back when I hear a cry for help.
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