Skip to main content

“Some gifts by their very nature make you swallow your pride.”

A thought by Timothy Keller (2016-10-25) from his book, Hidden Christmas: The Surprising Truth Behind the Birth of Christ (p. 17). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

We are going to head next week to Las Vegas where our daughter, Stef, our son-in-law, Andrew and our youngest granddaughter, Harper live.  Our son, Brett and his family will also be coming.  We are going to be celebrating Christmas together this year.  But we have a problem.  I’m not sure that we can fit in our Kia Sportage all the gifts that Margaret and I have bought for our family.  But we are going to try. 

Now I hadn’t thought of the fact that some presents cause us to swallow our pride but as Tim says I can see they can.

He says, “Imagine opening a present on Christmas morning from a friend— and it’s a dieting book. Then you take off another ribbon and wrapper and you find it is another book from another friend, Overcoming Selfishness. If you say to them, ‘Thank you so much,’ you are in a sense admitting, ‘For indeed I am fat and obnoxious.’ In other words, some gifts are hard to receive, because to do so is to admit you have flaws and weaknesses and you need help. Perhaps on some occasion you had a friend who figured out you were in financial trouble and came to you and offered a large sum of money to get you out of your predicament. If that has ever happened to you, you probably found that to receive the gift meant swallowing your pride.”

Tim goes on, “There has never been a gift offered that makes you swallow your pride to the depths that the gift of Jesus Christ requires us to do. Christmas means that we are so lost, so unable to save ourselves, that nothing less than the death of the Son of God himself could save us. That means you are not somebody who can pull yourself together and live a moral and good life.”

He then says, “To accept the true Christmas gift, you have to admit you’re a sinner. You need to be saved by grace. You need to give up control of your life. That is descending lower than any of us really wants to go. Yet Jesus Christ’s greatness is seen in how far down he came to love us. Your spiritual regeneration and eventual greatness will be achieved by going down the same path. He descended into greatness, and the Bible says it’s only through repentance that you come into his light.”


So have you swallow your pride and accepted his life changing gift?
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

“We believe it’s important to derive value from everything in our lives.”

A thought by Jon Tyson from his book, The Burden Is Light: Liberating Your Life from the Tyranny of Performance and Success (p. 118). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) But is that all that is important? Jon says, “We want to realize an immediate return from whatever we invest in. I am prone to this way of thinking in so many areas of my life. ‘I paid a lot for that meal, yet the portions were not that big.’ ‘I invested two hours in that movie, and it was just okay.’   ‘I went to church, but the sermon wasn’t that profound.’ We believe it’s important to derive value from everything in our lives. But beauty doesn’t fit within that framework. When Mary anointed Jesus with oil, there was an immediate outcry against her extravagant generosity. ‘It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages and the money given to the poor.’ (Mark 14:5) One gospel depicts the disciples crying, ‘Why this waste?...
Post a Comment
Read more

“Hurry and love are incompatible.”

A thought by John Mark Comer from his book, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry (p. 23). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Wow, pretty strong thought isn’t it? John says, “All my worst moments as a father, a husband, and a pastor, even as a human being, are when I’m in a hurry—late for an appointment, behind on my unrealistic to-do list, trying to cram too much into my day. I ooze anger, tension, a critical nagging—the antitheses of love. If you don’t believe me, next time you’re trying to get your type B wife and three young, easily distracted children out of the house and you’re running late (a subject on which I have a wealth of experience), just pay attention to how you relate to them. Does it look and feel like love? Or is it far more in the vein of agitation, anger, a biting comment, a rough glare? Hurry and love are oil and water: they simply do not mix.” He goes on, “Hence, in the apostle P...
Post a Comment
Read more

"Lie 2: The more you worry about it, the better your odds of avoiding it."

A thought by Louie Giglio in his book,   Winning the War on Worry    (p. 5). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) Here is another lie that the Enemy uses with us. And Louie says, "This is a tricky lie. Yes, we often have cause for concern and preparation. But the Enemy wants you to believe that if you worry or fret over a certain outcome long enough, you can keep something bad from happening." But this is so important to realize. He says, "The reality is worrying has never once prevented something negative from happening. Planning might. Prayer has. But worry never will." He continues, "The Enemy tells you that by worrying about a situation (or every situation) you can make your tomorrow better. Really, worry just robs you of today. Jesus implored us: 'I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body mor...
Post a Comment
Read more