As I clicked on Christmas instrumental, the title of the next song steadily rolled to the left of the box reading ‘Still, Still, Still’. That’s exactly the opposite of how I unfold the days prior to Christmas.
For the last few years I scolded myself for overworking. Not this year.
In Eastern countries Christmas season is not a time to rest, but a time to harvest.
My dad, a strong evangelist at heart, daily leverages his creativity to come up with ways to reach out to the unsaved. Just a month ago he shared with me casually as he spread homemade jam on his healthy crackers. “This Saturday at 2:00 it’s Widow’s Day. At 5:00 it’s Family Day. You only participate if you bring along an unchurched guest. On Sunday we start Home Group Evangelism.” And the list had just began.
This is a glimpse of the evangelism to be done in that part of the world come Christmas. (… As if they stayed idle all summer.)
(*During these evangelistic events the turnout of unbelievers/ seekers is 90 %. People are a lot more hungry for the truth than we give them credit.)
Christmas doesn’t have to be known as the season of gluttony, overcharged credit cards, and movies in pyjamas. Although, it’s commendable to set aside some of those days and turn them into family Sabbath.
Let’s remember that before there’s rest for ourselves, there has to be labor for others. Our Creator rested on the seventh day, only because He crafted the World six days prior. The land had to be put to rest on the seventh year, only because it was toiled six years before.
Let’s get our hands dirty this December as we explain ‘the reason for the season’. May our words be accompanied by acts that reflect Yahweh’s ‘agape’-giving love.
Let’s be generous with our time, wallet and our words. Proverbs 19:17 tells us that “Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward them for what they have done.”
Christmas season is rich in opportunities to water, or harvest what’s been planted throughout the year. Let’s do that with joy and courage. As my husband told the girls once “Go, be bold!” To which they shockingly replied “Why do we need to be bald, daddy?”
No, worries. We can keep our hair, but let’s go with boldness laboring for the soon-coming rest.