“Hatred stirs up conflict,
but love covers over all wrongs.” Proverbs 10:12
Have you noticed the vitriolic sentiment in America today? Turn on the computer, tap your favorite browser, and up pops your favorite homepage. As you scan that home page, you see several articles. Each one is enough to start your blood pressure rising, but lump the headlines together, and you begin to see stars. As you begin your drive to your place of business, several near fender-benders occur- one right after the other. Because you are distracted by the morning’s headlines, the near misses increase your anger exponentially. It does not matter who caused the near accidents. It just matters that your drive-time was affected. After all, you are a perfect driver, and you are never the cause of possible trouble. In fact, you are so angry that you choose to demonstrate that anger in a totally negative way.
Does this scenario sound familiar? It should. It happens thousands of time each day all across the country. Sometimes it seems as if the news media only wants to cause hatred. Hatred stirs up passion and conflict. The more the conflict is echoed throughout the land, the more the people listen to various news organizations. It means more revenue for that particular magazine, newspaper, radio show, or browser in the cut-throat world of the news. It does not matter if the story is totally true. It just matters that people pay attention.
God’s way is different than our way. It matters to Him how we treat our fellow citizens of earth, and getting attention is not His primary goal. God says,“I see what you did, but I still love you.” Yes, we still have the consequences for our actions to deal with, but God’s love for us is never in question. Each year at Christmas and Easter, we are reminded just how far God went and will go to show His love for each one of us.
When my children were young, I purchased a cassette about Psalty the Singing Songbook entitled Psalty’s Christmas Calamity. One of the songs included on the cassette was entitled “Christmas Is a Time to Love” written by Ernie Rettino & Debby KernerRettino. I think the words are very timely for our world today. This year, you be the one to take the extra step to love rather than to anger.
If you wish to listen, I have provided you with the Youtube link.
“Christmas Is a Time to Love”
Verse 1
We often start to worry
And people get upset,
If things don’t all go right
On Christmas day.
What we should remember
In all the push and shove,
Is Christmas is a time to love.
Chorus
Christmas is a time,
Christmas is a time,
Christmas is a time to love.
Christmas is a time,
Christmas is a time,
Christmas is a time to love.
Verse 2
Maybe things don’t sound right,
Or look the way they should,
And maybe they’re not perfectly in tune.
It really doesn’t matter,
Let’s keep our eyes above.
‘Cause Christmas is a time to love.