A Christmas meditation with the emphasis on taking

“God must take away the heaven we create, or it will become our hell.” _John Eldredge, Desire: The Journey We Must Take to Find the Life God Offers

“The Lord gives and the Lord takes away.” _Job

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It will not be news to you that Christmas is that time of year that we especially focus on giving and receiving gifts.

And of course, those who embrace the Christian faith remember that Christmas is that time of the year that we celebrate God’s greatest gift to us—Himself. “His name shall be called, Immanuel–God with us.”

But what is not remembered so much is that God not only gives but he also takes.

Like the parent who will gently but firmly pry from the clenched fist of their resistant little one a dirty germ-infested “something or other” that was headed to their infant’s mouth, so God, in his mercy, takes things from us. And like the child in my example, we too are often resistant and complaining about it.

The ONE THING for today: A good Christmas question to answer in this season of giving and receiving is: “I wonder what it is that God must take away from me in order for me to truly be healthy and fulfilled?”

It’s a scary question but a question that should not be ignored. For I am sure that Jesus came to this earth on that first Christmas night to not only give but to take away.