NO GIFTS THIS CHRISTMAS ...

WHAT???? NO GIFTS AT CHRISTMAS???? I remember once when my parents jokingly said that all we were going to get for Christmas was a dishwasher. One of my siblings started crying. Can you imagine growing up and never getting gifts on Christmas & birthdays?

Tonight at Bible study, I asked my students (from Guatemala) what kind of gifts they got on Christmas when they were growing up. Smiling, they said a pile of tamales. They said that only the wealthy people in their region exchanged gifts. They NEVER knew what it was like to get toys nor clothes or the like at Christmas. They hardly knew when they had a birthday. Nobody made any big deal of it.

I explained to them that in our culture one would be thought of as cruel if he didn’t get gifts for his children. It has turned into a grievous holiday instead of a holiday of gladness. People, first of all, worry about what they will purchase with fear of offending for not getting something that will please the person. Then, when it all happens, many people truly get upset because of their own greed. THE MAJORITY of the world however lives like those Guatemalan families in extreme poverty without any thought of exchanging gifts. The concept is out of reach.

We have been SO lavishly blessed with over abundance in the United States! It makes me wonder how we are going to fare on the day of judgment knowing of all of the suffering that is going on elsewhere.

According to UNICEF, 22,000 children die each day due to poverty. And they “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death.”

http://www.globalissues.org/article/715/today-21000-children-died-around-the-world

How much BETTER would we feel on judgment day if our Christian families would decide to give to struggling Christians in poverty stricken nations instead of heaping more unneeded junk on our own vanity?

Here are some good places to pray about investing in:

http://www.gfa.org/

http://www.persecution.com/

Mat 25:34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
Mat 25:35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
Mat 25:36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

"And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works" -Hebrews 10:24

IT is wonderful to love others through giving!

Peace in Christ,

Travis

This is great idea and really aimed my heart. I hate this crowd hysteria with gifts, and christmas, losing its original aim that Christ was born.

But I do not think we would not give gifts to each other. Only to change the way we give. Love can find a better way, instead of buying expensive things.
Just keep in mind, that the more sacrifice YOu make for a gift, the more it worth.
Nowadays, noone want to make sacrifice for each other, but rather easily solve the "gift problem" with some expensive thing bought on the last day.
Former times, grandmas knit scarfs, children made some drawings, fathers carved, etc. We can give precious gifts to our precious family, only need creativity and sacrifice.
I have always wanted to make home made sweeties, and I guess, the time has come :D

WHAT???? NO GIFTS AT CHRISTMAS???? I remember once when my parents jokingly said that all we were going to get for Christmas was a dishwasher. One of my siblings started crying. Can you imagine growing up and never getting gifts on Christmas & birthdays?

I can more than imagine it because that's how it was for me and my siblings growing up! :) My parents didn't wait till Christmas or birthdays to give us things, and personally I like it better that way. Since when does your birthday have to be about you...?? (Don't worry, I'm just trying to get us to think twice about what everyone thinks is normal...) And as for expecting gifts at Christmas, we were just raised with a different mindset... that if anything, you should do things together for others, instead of wasting money on each other for things you don't even need. :D

Great idea, Lordoitagain! And I would add, why do we have to wait till Christmas to get started? Why not do it any and every time of the year?

savedtoserve

Gospel for Asia has a great Christmas catalogue. My children love it.

At Christmas time, we each go through it, and using whatever gift or work money they may have, the children each pick out all the things they want to give others for Christmas.

It is a great teaching opportunity as well, as we learn that when we give "to the least of these", we are really giving to Jesus Himself.

And appropriately so, its Christmas!

I highly recommend it: http://www.gfa.org/

Be well all,
Doug

Amen. IT's about giving, not getting. When Jesus is left out, many get it backwards.