December 2011 Newsletter

Focus on Receiving

Verse of the month
“We love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19 ESV)

December. The time of year when we start to think about Christmas and what we might give people. What would we like to give them? What would they want? What shall we give people to eat? (on all the various occasions when food is served!) Lots of questions which all need to be thought through and answered.

It is easy to make giving something we have to do, rather than something we want to do. There is so much to organise, so many places to go and so much to think about. By the time Christmas Eve arrives I imagine many people are asking that sneaky question – ‘is it all worth it?’

But Christmas is a time of giving as we remember the greatest gift of all. We remember the Godhead stepping into humanity and a child being born who would become the way for us to know the Father.

God is a generous giver. He delights in giving good things to his children. As Psalm 34:10 says “no good thing is held back from those who seek him”. The greatest thing he has given us is his love and he wants us to encounter him for who he is. He is our Father and he wants us to know that we are his children; accepted and loved, not because of what we do but because of who we are.

In the midst of all the giving can we pause and focus for a while on receiving? He wants us to focus more on receiving his love than giving it. It is only as we are living in his love that it will overflow to those around us. We can’t give what we have not first received and the more we receive the more we will have to give. So my encouragement is to receive, receive and then receive some more. It is only then that giving and sharing his love will become natural. 

I wish you all a very happy and enjoyable Christmas.