Socks and underwear.
There’s a good chance that either socks or underwear will be in my Christmas stocking (again) this year. My mom gave me socks and underwear as a child. Tonya has continued the tradition. If I weren’t married, there’s a good chance I would buy myself socks and underwear.
The reason? I need socks and underwear.
When I was a child, my Christmas list was filled with things that I wanted. Bikes, baseball gloves, or the latest game. I don’t remember ever putting toothpaste on my list, although it had a way of showing up in my stocking (and still does).
At some point, Christmas became about getting what you want, not what you need.
Retailers exploit this through sales that begin before Thanksgiving. Five and six-year-olds put iPads and iPhones on their list. So do forty and fifty-year-olds. Maybe you’ll get a Lexus wrapped in a bow.
But the heart of Christmas is that God provided us with what we needed — and in so doing, what we wanted.
We want to believe that our life matters; we need to feel significant. By following Jesus, we find both.
We want to be accepted; we need to to be forgiven. The message of the cross is that Jesus offers both.
God will not always give us what we want. Sometimes what we want is not what we need. It actually may be the opposite of what we need. But if we will allow him, God will always give us what we need.
It may not be socks and underwear. God may let someone else give you those.