The Gift of the Magi is one of the most beautiful Christmas stories ever written. It's a fictional story about a young married couple, deeply in love but desperately poor, trying to buy each other the perfect Christmas gift. So he decides to sell his prize, antique gold watch to buy a pair of tortoiseshell combs for her lovely, waist-length brunette hair. She, in turn, cuts off her hair and sells it to a wig-maker, so that she can buy a fine gold chain for her husband's beautiful gold watch.
Of course this story has a bit of an ironic ending - each one's sacrifice, although great indeed, is rendered useless at the end because of the equally sacrificial love of their spouse. But what stand out more to me is not the irony, but rather the sacrifice. I've been going Christmas shopping for friends and family for a while now, picking up things here and there to take back to the states with me when I fly home in 2 weeks. It's been fun - I enjoy buying presents for people, and it serves as a sort of pseudo-countdown for when I get to see my family and friends.
But I have to ask myself...have I been giving sacrificially? Have I approached giving not simply as something that I do out of my abundance, but also out of my scarcity? Most people try not to go into debt when buying Christmas presents. And, while I am most certainly NOT advocating that you do that, God does want us to give sacrificially. A gift only truly means something if it costs you something. And I'm not talking about just money. You can offer time, talent, energy, ideas....the list goes on. So I wonder, if people merit sacrificial giving, how much more so do you think God deserves it??
Of course this story has a bit of an ironic ending - each one's sacrifice, although great indeed, is rendered useless at the end because of the equally sacrificial love of their spouse. But what stand out more to me is not the irony, but rather the sacrifice. I've been going Christmas shopping for friends and family for a while now, picking up things here and there to take back to the states with me when I fly home in 2 weeks. It's been fun - I enjoy buying presents for people, and it serves as a sort of pseudo-countdown for when I get to see my family and friends.
But I have to ask myself...have I been giving sacrificially? Have I approached giving not simply as something that I do out of my abundance, but also out of my scarcity? Most people try not to go into debt when buying Christmas presents. And, while I am most certainly NOT advocating that you do that, God does want us to give sacrificially. A gift only truly means something if it costs you something. And I'm not talking about just money. You can offer time, talent, energy, ideas....the list goes on. So I wonder, if people merit sacrificial giving, how much more so do you think God deserves it??
Acts 20:32-35
32 “Now I commit you to
God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an
inheritance among all those who are sanctified. 33 I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. 34 You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. 35
In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we
must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”
1 John 4:10-11
10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 
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