So this Christmas season has had me thinking a lot about gift giving. I know as soon as I start talking about gifts everyone thinks ok ok, here he goes, he's gonna start talking about it's better to give than it is to receive. Well... sort of, but not really. I have actually been thinking about the gift God gave me about 6 years ago.
A lot of you know me as the mild mannered, funny, joke telling, church goin' guy. That was not always me. You see, there was a time when you couldn't have dragged me through the doors of a church if the world was all on fire and that was the only safe place on the planet. There was a time when I couldn't give a crap about pleasing God, much less care about how anyone but myself could be made happy.
As far as faith, I was truly what you would call a mocker. I thought as long as I believed in God I was as good as gold, going to heaven, if there was such a place. Also, as we all know, only really bad people go to hell, and I had never done anything really bad. I was content to live my life the way I wanted to, drink as much as I want, look at as many women as I want, pretty much live for whatever made me happy at the time.
When I saw people who were "living" for God, all I could do was make fun of the Bible thumpin' holy roller who thought they were better than everyone else. I had some bad experiences with people in my life who claimed to be God followers and as far as I was concerned they were hypocrites and I wanted nothing to do with it.
So what does that have to do with Christmas gifts? Well, for me that lifestyle started to be not fun. It was empty, ridden with guilt, and quite frankly just kinda started to feel wrong. I started to feel that there was more to life, like, maybe this wasn't all it was cracked up to be. It is amazing to me how much I clinged to things that were totally wrecking me. So I started to pray. I didn't pray like all feverishly or religiously, I just kind of started asking God to make himself real to me. To show me what life was all about. Maybe it was out of desperation, maybe it was out of guilt, maybe. I think it was God calling me back to him. I can see all the eyebrows of people who don't buy it going up in disbelief, hang in there though, I'm getting to the point.
So about 6 years ago, something amazing happened. God showed up in my life in a way I couldn't shrug off or dismiss as coincidence. This guy from Texas came to where I worked at the time. We were short handed at work and he flew up from our Texas plant to lend a hand and help out. All this guy could talk about was Jesus. I mean he was a total nut. But for some reason I just couldn't stop listening. I mean he wasn't preachy or anything he was just talking about how God was working in his life and the life of his family and I just knew that God had put this person in my life to get my attention. The kicker was this, he said that at first when his boss approached him about coming to Minnesota, in -20 degree weather by the way, he said no way. However, the following Sunday he felt like he needed to do it. He told his wife if they asked him to go again, he would know it was God wanting him to go. So sure enough, they asked him again.
So he showed up. He talked about Jesus, I listened. I knew deep in my soul that God had sent him to talk to me. I made up my mind then and there that God was indeed real, and that I would follow His plan for my life from that moment on. God gave me a great gift. I felt his love for me and I knew it was real. All the stuff that had kept me away from him no longer mattered, what mattered was he loved me.
I was reminded of that story this Christmas when I read John 17: 1-3 '"Father the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he may give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent."'
See God wants us to know him. That is why he sent his son, Jesus. Jesus prayed that prayer just before his arrest and crucifixion. He died for our sins so we could have a relationship with God and receive the gift of eternal life. That is the greatest gift I have ever, or ever will receive.
It's funny to me now to look back and think how much I resisted God. How many times I mocked those who had faith and loved Jesus. My hope is this Christmas, if you are the mocker, to give God a chance. Think and pray about what life is all about. Ask God to show you the truth.
If you are someone who has a mocker or someone in your life who is extremely resistant to faith or even talking about it, don't give up on them. I was one of those people, big time. God will soften hearts, trust in him, keep the faith.
Thanks for reading, have a great Christmas and a happy new year.
