It’s the Christmas season. And if you’re like me, Christmas gets you excited. I love the decorations, delicious food, and all the great gifts. Getting new things can be so much fun! One of the great things about Christmas is that not only is it a time for getting new stuff, it’s also a time for giving. Many times, in the Christmas season we can get wrapped up in making our Christmas list that we forget to experience the joy found in giving.
Let’s take a look at a few reasons why we should practice giving this holiday.
Reason #1 – Bigger is Better
The world of the generous gets larger and larger; – Proverbs 11:24 a (MSG)
In life, usually bigger is better. If you got a 74 inch TV for Christmas, you’d be way more excited than getting a 24 inch one. Generally, we tend to like things that are bigger and better. We are wired to like bigger and better things. This is how God made us. God is a God of abundance and He wants you to experience bigger and better things with Him. He desires to see you blessed and having abundance. That abundance, however, isn’t just for you. God wants you to use it to help others.
God wants to bless you so that you can use those blessings to help others. He wants you to expand your vision and look for ways you can help others around you. God might ask you to do something very simple to help those around you. As you obey, you’ll find that a lifestyle of generosity brings you lasting happiness.
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As you make giving a part of your lifestyle, you’ll be surprised to see how much your vision expands. You will want to give to others. You start by looking for needs and asking God to show you how you could meet them. Your world gets bigger the more you give.
Reason #2 – A Small Worldview is Selfish
The world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller – Proverbs 11:24 b (MSG)
Have you noticed how easy it is to begin focusing on only yourself? Maybe you have two or three close friends and you guys hang out all the time and do everything together. There’s nothing wrong with having a group of friends, however, when those friends are all you hang out with, you can often be excluding others that God would want you to reach with His love.
When your focus is your self, your friends, your goals and your dreams, your world will be small. And the reality is, the more you focus on yourself the unhappier you’ll be. If you want to change the world, start by focusing on those around you. The truth is, God wants to use you. He wants to do big things through you and use you to bless the people around you. If you’ll be open to his leading, you’ll see that He will put opportunities into your life to bless and help others.
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Look for opportunities to help others. It might be buying a candy bar to help someone that had a bad day. It might be organizing some friends to bring flowers to the girl on your volleyball team that broke her leg. It could be baking cookies and giving the money from selling them to missions. There are endless opportunities around you to be a blessing to others. You’ve just got to begin thinking bigger and you’ll start to see lots of ways God can use you to bless others.
Reason #3 – Eternal Thinking Leads to Happiness
It seems like we are always in search of things that make us happy. For you, it might be playing Fortnite with friends. It’s easy to begin to focus all your energy on those things that bring you happiness. You think if I could just get a boyfriend, or if I could just get that one friend to like me then you’ll be happy.
And getting those things may make you happy for a time. However, that happiness often doesn’t last for a long time. You get that boyfriend only to find out he’s got some flaws that drive you crazy. Or you get the shoes you wanted only to find out that they get dirty and aren’t as comfortable as you thought.
Getting more things don’t bring you lasting happiness. If you want to be happier, you need to focus your attention on things that are eternal. You do this by focusing on others, focusing on being a light for Jesus, focusing on needs that you see around you and then asking God how you can help meet those needs. Doing those things will make you have lasting happiness. Nothing is better than leading a friend to Christ. You experience true happiness by helping a needy family in your town or giving some money to a missionary. These types of things are eternal. These types of things bring lasting happiness.
So this Christmas season, choose to focus your attention on things that are eternal. Don’t get all wrapped up in your Christmas list that you forget what Christmas is about. Ask God to show you how you can help meet the needs of those around you, and see that God will help you change your world.
