The Day After Christmas

Wow, what it must be like to work in retail… especially a department store… especially the day after Christmas! From handling the last minute shopper on Christmas Eve to welcoming the discouraged shopper after Christmas waiting in long lines to return that “perfect” gift that wasn’t quite so perfect.

Have you ever felt like you wanted to return YOU? I mean, have you ever wished you could trade yourself in for a better version of you? I think we’ve all felt that at one time or another. Most of the time it centers around beliefs we have about ourselves. We don’t feel that we quite measure up, or we don’t feel quite up to the tasks or challenges that are in our lives, or perhaps we just want an upgrade. Whatever it is, it’s important to know when God created you, he didn’t save the receipt “just in case” you didn’t work out! No, on the contrary! He created the perfect YOU the first time around. And as my mom used to say as we were growing up, “GOD DON’T MAKE NO JUNK!”

At Celebrate, we spent the past month trying to shape, or reshape, our focus on Letting Christmas Be Christmas. Reminding us that Christmas is about Christ… yet it is also about us. Not only changing our view of Christ but also of ourselves. Sometimes my kids will use our computer to take funny pictures of themselves. There is a way you can take a photo using special software that distorts the image. Make your head long and warped, short and fat, one eye higher than the other, it reminds me of going to carnivals and walking past one of those fun house mirrors that would make your body look all sorts of shapes. In life, most often when we look at ourselves what we see is a distorted image of ourselves. Because we have all grown up with imperfect people around us and with ourselves being imperfect, often the image of our life is distorted. And it is definitely not the perfect image that God sees… the person that He created… beautifully and wonderfully made!

What does God say about you? The Bible encourages us to know the truth. Why? Because the truth brings us freedom. It is the truth that sets us free from our hurts and hang-ups. So don’t be so quick to return YOU and give up on God.

There is a passage of Scriptural truths in the Bible that I encourage you to read located in 1 Peter 2:4-10. The Apostle Peter was writing to people who were discouraged, who were taking some heavy hits on their esteem. They were being ridiculed, imprisoned, and executed! They were having a tough time in life under the rule of the Roman Empire.

Look in verses 9 & 10, “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy!”

Wow! I hope you will see and receive what God says about if you are a believer in Jesus Christ. READ, REMEMBER AND KEEP RECITING these truths of God’s Word…

“You are a chosen people…”
“You are a people belonging to God…”
“You are living stones…”
“You are a royal priest and a holy people…”
“You are now recipients of mercy…”
“All these titles of God’s people now belong to you….”

As I end this blog on this day after Christmas, my heart is that you would be reminded that if you are trusting in Christ, then you are a member of God’s family, you are acceptable… you are valuable… you are capable… you are competent… you are forgiven!

This holiday season, let’s make sure the only items we return are those not-so-perfect Christmas Gifts, and thank God for the perfect person he created us to be!

Joe