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Keeping Christmas
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
Sixth Day of Christmas
1 John 2:12-17
Your sins have been forgiven for his name’s sake. You know him from the beginning. You have conquered the evil one. You know the Father. You know him who is from the beginning. You are strong and the word of God remains in you. Do not love the world. The world is passing away. Whoever does the will of God remains forever.
John encourages us seven times and admonishes us once. We are not alone. When we remember this we can live far better than we do.
Here on the sixth day of Christmas, the world is passing away. Gifts are gone and celebrations are over. But whoever does the will of God remains forever.
A hundred years or so ago, Henry van Dyke wrote about “keeping Christmas.” When I think of “forever,” I think of living like this:
Are you willing to forget what you have done for other people, and to remember what other people have done for you;
to ignore what the world owes you, and to think what you owe the world;
to see that your fellow-men are just as real as you are, and try to look behind their faces to their hearts, hungry for joy;
to own that probably the only good reason for your existence is not what you are going to get out of life, but what you are going to give to life;
to stop asking how much your friends love you, and ask yourself whether you love them enough;
to bear in mind the things that other people have to bear on their hearts;
… are you willing to do these things even for a day?
Then you can keep Christmas. And if you keep it for a day, why not always?
(The rest of Van Dyke’s “Short Christmas Sermon” is here: http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/6087/)
Jesus, you are here and you have always been here. You are here now … and now … and now! In each heartbeat we can here your whisper, “I love you.” Give us each ways to share your love with others every day. You love me for always. And I love you.
http://www.christiancounselingservice.com/archived_devotions.php?article_id=1325
