'Tis the Season

I thought I would post a blog entry I did last year that is challenging to all of us as the Christmas season is upon us. Enjoy...

So I just spent some time over the last week looking at YouTube clips of insane people acting like morons on Black Friday. Some of these clips are very funny, with people running like bulls through the streets of Spain in an effort to save $20 on a DVD player. But there are some that make you sick. It turns out that a Wal-Mart worker last year was trampled to death by shoppers when he opened the door. I happened to see a video clip of police trying to revive him. Meanwhile, the same shoppers who trampled the guy were seen running through the store in the background, completely oblivious to what they did.

Does that not make your stomach hurt? I mean, what the heck is going on? How is it that the night before these people are spending time around the table at Thanksgiving, giving "thanks" for what they have, and the next morning they are running over people trying to get what they don't have??! How is it that at a time when we're supposed to be celebrating the greatest act of selflessness ever (Immanuel coming as the sacrifice for our sins), we are so self-consumed and have no regard for other people?

I read a few passages this week regarding this subject. One of those is Matthew 25, in which Jesus says that many people will be turned away from heaven because they didn't care for Jesus when he was hungry, thisty, naked, and hurting. And people will say they never saw Jesus this way. Jesus then says that anyone who doesn't care for those that need it, it is as if they are turning down Jesus Himself. A couple of chapters before that, in Matthew 20, the disciples are arguing over who is the greatest disciple. And Jesus tells them that whoever wants to be truly great will serve others. A true follower of Christ will be consumed with meeting the needs of those all around them before considering their own needs.

And yet, if I'm honest, I'm going from store to store looking to save 10% on a larger TV that I don't even need! Or I'm trying to use whatever Christmas money I have on another iPod, or pair of jeans, or sweatshirt, when the reality is I already have plenty of those things. Meanwhile, the guy at the end of my street has been out of work for 8 months and is trying to put food on the table for his family or trying to find the money for a coat so his kid doesn't freeze to death!

So the question I've been internalizing is this: Am I really living my life the way Jesus wants in regards to taking care of the poor and feeding those who are hungry or in need? Or am I so consumed with myself and what I want that I'm missing the blantant needs of others all around me?

"Those that want to be first will be last, and those who put themselves last will be first."