There is an Amazon ad this Christmas that touches my heart.
Actually, the Lord used the ad to convict my heart and inspire this blog post.
I hope you will take the time to watch it now before you keep reading.
Kindness, the greatest gift
Amazon has a wonderful message for our Christmas season. The title and message of their ad is “Kindness, the greatest gift.”
The marketing aspect is not lost on me, but I don’t think marketing was their only goal. They know the pandemic has made them a great deal of money. They also know there has been a human cost behind their profits.
The reason I wanted to write this blog during our Christmas season is that the message of the ad should be our message as well. I was struck by the idea that maybe we have believed Satan’s lies about the world more often than we should.
God created human beings in “his own image” (Genesis 1:27). First John 4:8 tells us that “God is love.” Those two verses can assure us that every human being on this planet has been created with a capacity for love and a need to give and receive love. That’s why our most important commandment is to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27). God created us in his image, and God is kind. Jesus told us the most important thing we can do with our earthly lives is to act like our heavenly Dad.
Imagine your life if you had never been “adopted”
This is a lengthy passage, but take the time to read and soak in every word. This passage is a gift from Scripture for your day:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved” (Ephesians 1:3–6).
If you are a Christian, God is your heavenly Dad. You were created by him but lost to him. When you made Jesus your Lord and Savior, God adopted you forever. Your life and your character were gifted again with his. That is who the Holy Spirit is and wants to be in your life.
I’ve often said, “We shouldn’t be surprised when lost people act like they are lost.” Who would you be if someone had not led you to faith in Christ? Think about the last thing you did that you know God didn’t approve of. Think about what it would be like to live without that conviction. Wouldn’t your life develop into some wrong patterns too? I know mine would.
If we sin this much while saved, imagine how much we would blow it if we didn’t have Jesus!
The lost are closer to God than they realize
No one wants to be lost. No one wants to feel lost. No one enjoys admitting they aren’t good enough. But, deep down under the pride, is the knowledge that all of us were lost, or we still are.
In the Amazon Christmas ad, an older woman cares about, and for, a younger woman who needs her encouragement. That is the “gift” that comes out of the Amazon box. Amazon’s marketing company was wise to know that kindness is what people most need right now.
The point of this blog post is: Amazon has worked to understand what people want and need. Christians understand that everyone’s greatest need is to be filled with the source of kindness. Human kindness is a great gift, but it is a temporary gift. Jesus is the gift of Christmas who is the source of eternal love and kindness.
When I watched the Amazon ad, tears came to my eyes. People know what they need most. How do we tell them how to find it? How do we explain they are so close to finding an answer to their greatest needs? The Amazon ad was a good reminder. All of us who know Jesus simply need to care enough to do something in his name and for his kingdom purpose.
The end of the ad held the answer
When the ad came to a close, the older woman was sitting on a bench with the younger woman. They were both enjoying their time together. Isn’t that a picture of what it means to “love your neighbor as you love yourself”?
Whom is God calling you to invest in? And, let me say in advance, that investment isn’t just for the Christmas season.
Jesus told his followers to “go and make disciples” (Matthew 28:19). Discipling a person is rarely a one-time conversation. Jesus wanted us to invest our lives into the spiritual growth of others. Whom has Jesus called you to disciple? That question is answered by specific names. Can you list those names?
If Amazon knows what the world needs, how much more should we? We know the greatest gift of Christmas and every other season of life. He has a name too. The angel told Mary, “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus” (Luke 1:31).
Evangelism isn’t just for some. Jesus called all of us to make disciples and teach them. We know what to say and we know what to do. But, that isn’t the first step. The first step is to care.
When we see the ad run on our television sets this Christmas season, let it call each of us to this simple prayer: Father God, help me to care like that.
Who will you be sitting next to if you do?