Taking Back Christmas One Gift at a Time {The Entitlement Epidemic ends here...}

The newspaper landed with a thud. A loud, pre-dawn jolt against the door announcing that frenzy was on its way.

This week's paper, like all Thanksgiving newspapers of the past, contained a hoard of good deals...rock bottom prices and doorbusters for all the latest and greatest...the MUST HAVE items on everyone's Christmas wish list.

Or so the headlines read.

Thanksgiving has been redefined by taglines and one-liners purposefully placed to remind us of our never-ending need to NEED. Our need for stuff. Our need for new.

A holiday born from a bountiful harvest is now sowing seeds of discontent. When once we exhaled in gratitude, we now breathe deep and clamor for more.

The truth is, I'm not anti-Black Friday anymore than I am anti-anyday.

I know that Americans have been blessed.

But...

What if that blessing came for a purpose?
What if receiving more meant we had more to give?
What if our Black Friday mirrored that of the blackest of all Fridays.

A day when Christ gave. Gave all He had.

He reminds us in Matthew 25:35-36,

"For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me." Esv

What if, this Christmas season, we took this Truth as a charge? A charge to give in abundance out of our abundance?

What if we decided to live simply so that others might simply live?

What if we reclaimed Thanksgiving and Black Friday and all the other days when we hear the gentle whisperings of MORE? What if we set aside our un-holy trinity of Me, Myself, & I and replaced it with a resolve to love God and love others?

What if our MORE was wrapped in a package of self-less giving?

This Christmas, as always, my family will be giving a gift to Jesus. A gift of hope. A gift of love.
I hold these five wonderful ministries out to you as an offering...an invitation to join us...an opportunity to take back Christmas one small gift at a time.

Global Fingerprints

Global Fingerprints is a child-sponsorship program that partners with individuals and national churches to provide for the physical, educational, and spiritual needs of orphaned children in Congo, Haiti, India, Indonesia, Liberia, and Zambia.

Rachel, a lovely, homegrown-missionary from our church has worked with hundreds of children across Congo through Global Fingerprints. It was through her that we were introduced to Damba, our sweet, doe-eyed Congolese daughter. Damba may not be in our arms, but she is always in our hearts.

World Vision

Purchasing a gift from a World Vision gift catalog is an opportunity to give a gift that will change a life. You'll find no plastic toys in these pages. Only purpose.

A pig.
A cow.
Fresh drinking water.
A way of escape for a young girl trapped without hope.

All are tangible ways to meet the need in someone's hand in order to meet the need in their heart.

Each year, my children pore over the pages of the World Vision catalog carefully selecting their gifts. They purchase fish. They purchase seeds. They purchase hope.

Operation Christmas Child

One little shoebox packed with a few items and a whole lot of love can reap eternal dividends to a child half-way around the world. Operation Christmas Child, a ministry of Samaritan's Purse, reaches thousands of children in over 100 different countries each year with simple Christmas packages and the glorious news of the Gospel.

Every November, as our family packs a few shoe boxes, we are reminded that little is much when God is in it. One little shoebox can be multiplied for all of eternity.

The Starfish Project

Seeking to rescue Asian woman from the underground world of sex-trafficking, The Starfish Project is a fair-trade, socially responsible jewelry business. Proceeds go towards counseling, vocational training, healthcare, and shelter for women who need healing. The jewelry is all hand-crafted by rescued women and sold through American advocates. Named after the famed parable of the Starfish, the project knows it can not rescue all women, but provides hope and meaningful employment to many.

Purchasing a piece of Starfish jewelry for someone on your gift list will give double this Christmas. One woman will receive a beautiful treasure from a friend and another will be given the gift of honor and a fresh start.

Angel Tree

Angel Tree is a ministry of Prison Fellowship that partners with local churches and individuals to provide Christmas gifts to the children of incarcerated men and women right in your area. Angel tree shares love for children who often feel unlovely.

To the least of these

In Matthew 25, Jesus gave a pattern for gift giving...give food to the hungry...give drink to the thirsty.

This Black Friday when the world is telling us more...More...MORE, let's all be brave enough to ask, "How much is enough?"

And then, let's take back Christmas.

Let's give...give to the least of these...give to Christ.

It's His birthday, after all.

"Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me." Matthew 25:40b ESV

More resources for taking back Christmas

Step Into My Shoes Free Advent Curriculum with a global impact
Creating a Jesse Tree