My senior year in High School our class decided on its "Senior Song" to be sung at our graduation ceremony. I'm not sure what exactly it reveals about the Ellington High School class of 1993 to say that we chose "Where Everybody Knows Your Name". Yes, that is the theme song for "Cheers", the television show that takes place entirely within a bar with characters like Sam, Diane, Cliff, and, of course, Norm.
Apparently the Wakefield Starbucks is my "Cheers" because most of the baristas there now know my name, and most of them know my drink of choice, even if they're just a little uncomfortable making it for me. For the record, it's a Quad Short Four Pump Sugar Free Vanilla Espresso Macchiato, which is also known as "The Annie" for the barista who created this crazy concoction for me. So this afternoon I'm sipping on my Starbucks coffee, remembering the value of the place where everybody knows your name, and trying to write some coherent thoughts for the blog post today.
This weekend's message may have been one of the more challenging messages I can recall for me to deliver, because it's not one that I'm particularly good at applying or practicing. We talked about the idea of "spending less" for Christmas, and I confessed that it's hard for me to do that. Even when Rita and I had a follow up conversation on Sunday night, I told her that so many times it feels really easy just to go buy a gift, drop a few dollars on the item, and be done with my "shopping" for the season.
But as I said on Sunday, I feel like this Christmas season God is really trying to get my attention on those areas of my heart that might still be unsubmitted to him and his desires for me. As we read the passage in James 4:1-4, I felt like God was just pushing on my heart to submit all of my desires, all of my passions, and all of my expectations to him so that he could shapes them into something that would more accurately reflect his desires for me and for those around me. Because the truth is that so much of my spending this season would typically be about satisfying my desires to feel generous, to feel like a good parent or husband, or to feel like somehow I have brought joy to my kids when I bought them something nice when, in fact, what they may need may never be quantified with dollars spent or presents given.
If you missed it Sunday, at the end of the message I gave a clear, but difficult challenge: don't spend any money on Christmas stuff this week. Instead use the time to ask God to open up your heart to see the places where your desires are off target and out of line with his. As you ask God to do that, also ask him to begin reshaping those passions of your heart to more reflect his. Ask God to show you his desire for those people in your life that you are giving gifts to, so that instead of just giving them another gift, you would really give something of yourself to them that would bring about God's purpose in their lives.
So last week we hit the first part of a different equation for Christmas, and next week we will finish it off, so that when we're done it will look like this: Spend Less = Give More.
I hope you'll join us to see how that works out this coming Sunday!
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