My only trip out of the house today was to get a newspaper, which involved me passing by our Walmart on the way.  Which is always SO WEIRD on Christmas Day, because it’s absolutely empty!  I slowed down and just took in the sight of that completely calm, peaceful parking lot and was immediately struck by this thought..in less than 12 hours, that very same lot will be a frantic, loud, stress building place as people rush to buy all those Christmas leftovers and return half of those gifts they politely “oohed and aahed” over today!

Such a contrast!  And it proves something every born-again, evangelical, Jesus loving and Jesus sharing believer already knows..there is no earthly gift that can ever satisfy the eternal longing in the hearts of those who don’t believe!

A lot of people, especially those in the secular world, believe that all the warm fuzzies and good wishes, and in many cases truly good works for others, are what Christmas is all about and what the world really needs…and that somehow those things and the exchanging of gifts will be enough to finally increase peace and goodwill in the days after.  A lot of Christians, too, may think that the easiest time to evangelize is when the whole world is heading toward a time of giving and generosity and will be naturally more inclined to listen to us.

AND YET!  As I thought about tomorrow and the gift exchanging, I realized we may be very wrong.  God challenged me right there to think about the spirit of dissatisfaction invading the lives of thousands of people even now, on Christmas night, just hours after all that peace and joy was supposed to happen!  All those who had different presents or different places to go this year for “celebration” but who still walked away feeling empty in spite of the glitz.  All those who will go to bed tonight thinking about how much they SPENT and how little satisfaction they got from it!  All those who fell for the hype and exhausted themselves, their families and their budgets and tomorrow will still wake up the same people they always have been.  All those who will still not be happy, or prettier, or better off because of one day and its supposed promises.

So what BETTER time than tomorrow, instead of being tempted to “relax” our spiritual senses, than to ask God to energize them!  What if we made it a point to seek out the dissatisfied, and offer them the BEST gift exchange of all..their sick, sorry and sad lives, without Jesus, in exchange for HIS eternal gift of salvation!!  That exchange requires no waiting in line, no receipts..it can happen anywhere, anytime.  And for ALL people tomorrow and every day after, THAT exchange will be the only one that will affect the rest of their lives as they submit to the Author of peace, the Giver of joy, and the One who died to give them eternal life!