I remember the thrill of looking out our living room window with my grandparents on Christmas Eve, trying to see Santa’s sleigh in the sky.
Suddenly I would hear bumping and scraping sounds. Santa and his eight reindeer were on the roof! And Santa was bringing my toys!
My parents, of course, were responsible for both the sounds and the gifts. But I was five and believed in Santa, even though I had never seen him in the sky. Instead, I’d heard the sounds of Santa and had seen the evidence for Santa—crumbs from the cookies left out for him, gifts laid under the tree.
My parents “showed” me the reality of Santa, who is (spoiler alert) not real.
So here’s my thought:
How Can We Show Others the Reality of Jesus this Christmas?
How are we doing at showing the reality of Jesus, who is not just real but also at the center of and the power in a follower’s life? Is there evidence that people see Jesus because he lives in us? And what is that evidence?
What would you say? Think about it and then scroll down for my answer.
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ALMOST THERE
And the answer is ….
Love. It’s love. Jesus told us that others will know we are his followers if we love them (John 13:35).
Making a List and Checking It Twice
Are you ready for a love check? It’s time to make a list and check it twice—or three times or one hundred and three times.
Our checklist has just one question. It’s a question posed by John and Charles Wesley that they wrote for self-examination almost three hundred years ago. Of the twenty-two questions that they used every day in their private devotions, it’s the really tough one:
Is there anyone whom I fear, dislike, disown, criticize, hold a resentment toward or disregard? If so, what am I doing about it?
As you answer this question, be sure to include everyone—even those who might not even realize that you don’t love them, even the people you fear more than love, even the people you criticize behind their backs.
“What? What does it matter how I feel if I don’t show my true feelings toward that person?” some of you may be asking.
Because that’s not Jesus’ kind of love.
What’s Jesus’ Kind of Love?
The kind of love that Jesus is talking about is love from the heart. It’s not the kind of love that you put on, like clothes, to show off to others when you’re around them.
It’s the kind of love that’s inside of you. It’s the love that overflows from Jesus, from the love in his spirit that flows to your spirit when you’re his follower.
Is that the kind of love you have for people?
Too many questions, you may be thinking. This is getting too personal.
And then there’s the second part of the Wesley brother’s question:
What are you doing about it?
You may honestly think there’s nothing you can do about not loving someone you can’t stand to be around.
You Can’t Just Try Harder
In one sense, that’s true. You can’t just try harder. There is no behavior you can undertake, no new method you can try, no positive thinking you develop in order to love someone you don’t love. There’s no self-help book for Jesus’ kind of love.
But there is Jesus. And you know what? If you spend meaningful time with Jesus, sitting at his feet, being silent before him, listening to his voice, reading what he has said, praying for his work in you, you’ll start soaking in his love. And you can’t get drenched with the love of Jesus without getting it all over yourself.
Loving those you don’t choose to love isn’t easy. But it’s also not impossible. You can move past the clothing-type-of-love to the love-from-the-heart—but it comes from your time with Jesus.
What do you say? Is this Christmas the time to make time for Jesus?