Can you imagine the scene? Justin Bieber comes unannounced to an all-girls middle school. As he walks through the doors, pandemonium starts. Order goes out the window as hundreds maybe thousands of girls try their hardest for him to see them, for him to catch their eye. If he valued his life, he would never do it. The enthusiastic girls would push, scratch, even hit each other to get that one photo of him, and in doing so - he may be injured in the process.
Now imagine someone different walking through the same school's doors unannounced. A homeless man asking for directions to the local mission. The security guards would be on edge, more than likely those he is requesting information from would be rude to him, and the girls, the same girls who would become insane if he was Justin Bieber, would look at him in disgust.
The truth is we live in a "what can you do for me" society. The Bible states in Psalms 19:4, "Wealth maketh many friends; but the poor is separated from his neighbour." After all, Justin has 9.6 million followers on Twitter (more than President Obama) and this year alone is estimated to make just a measly 53 million. However, what can a homeless man do for you? No popularity, notoriety exists in his life, so he is just disregarded. It is an amazing and disheartening thing to see the attitude and countenance of an individual fluctuate according to with whom they are currently conversing.
The other day, I was listening to the local radio station that has broken from its regular schedule to broadcast Christmas music and heard "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" come on the radio. Subconsciously, I started singing the words in my head and for some uncertain reason, I was more attentive to the words this time. Here are the words:
"You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen,
Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen.,
But do you recall?
The most famous reindeer of all?
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Had a very shiny nose,
And if you ever saw it,
You would even say it glows.
All of the other reindeer
Used to laugh and call him names;
They never let poor Rudolph
Join in any reindeer games.
Then one foggy Christmas Eve,
Santa came to say,
Rudolph with your nose so bright,
Won't you guide my sleigh tonight?
Then how the reindeer loved him
As they shouted out with glee,
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,
You'll go down in history."
To say the least, I was disappointed in the song. What a horrible message it teaches! I know, I know, the underlying principle is you should never be ashamed of your uniqueness and that it can be used to benefit others. I understand all of this. Though, what about "then how the reindeer loved him"? It was only after Santa showed him favour and he was able to benefit them that they praised him and even more sickening, loved him.
If anything, though I do not believe intended, it accurately reveals humanity in its depraved nature. It reflects a real-life principle that is unfortunately more common than sometimes we want to admit. Just take a look at the Scriptures, even more the life of Christ and they will affirm this truth. You won't have to look far to see Christ's acceptance of Samaritans, Gentiles, lepers, fisherman, Nazarenes, Roman soldiers - all of which were despised in His day. Even of Himself the Bible reads in Isaiah 53:2 ,"...he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him."
An accurate description of man's selfishness can be found in John 6. John 1:1-13 records Jesus Christ miraculously feeding the multitude, then in vs. 14-15:"Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world. When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone" However, after the same group finds Jesus on the other side of the Sea of Galilee they ask Him how they can do the works of God also (perform miracles). Jesus tells them that He is the Bread of Life and when they misunderstand Him their actions speak louder than words. The Bible states in vs. 66, "From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him." Amazing. Previously, they were going to make Him a king, the next day, they walk away. Sadly, they walked away from the One who already was King.
I personally don't want to be a follower of Christ just because of the blessings He provides or what He can do for me. I want to follow Him because I love Him. It is also a personal ongoing goal of mine to not respect persons, that is, favoring one individual above another because of status, personality, wealth, etc., "for there is no respect of persons with God (Romans 2:11)" This Christmas, let us make a goal to love others because Christ loves them, and not for what they can do for us. Blasted Reindeer!
In Christ,
Pastor Jon
Phil. 2:15
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