'Tis the Season to be Selfish

Presents. Getting not Giving. Going to the store trampling people in order to get that perfect gift. Constantly thinking about "What I want for Christmas" Yep, it's all about ME during Christmas.
See, it's not just consumerism that's wrong with the Holidays. It's the selfishness. We spend so much time thinking about what we want. "Okay," You might thinking, "that's true, but what about thinking about gifts for others." Which brings a good point, yes, you're being selfless, thinking about someone else, but how many times have you had this running through you're mind while shopping for someone, "I need to give them the perfect gift."
Granted not EVERYTHING about shopping for someone else is selfish, but how many times do we worry about our gifts wondering if they'll make us look better or worse. A lot of time we give gifts to impress people. Or sometimes, we forget, spending our time on what we need to do.
And what about the whole "give to the less fortunate?" Sometimes we are thinking, "Does this make me look better and like a good, caring person?" And what about the rest of the year? Do we even give those "less fortunate" a second thought? It's almost as if we say, "Alright, I gave you money for Christmas now you're not my problem anymore." The bible never talks about giving during Christmas, it's SUPPOSED to be ALL year long.
Which brings us to the question: Why do we even celebrate Christmas? If all we do is fake it, why bother. Did they just make up this holiday so we can one more day of presents? It's time to change "Selfish" to "Selfless" and change "Holiday season" to "all year."
We think we make sacrifices during the holidays, think about why we even celebrate Christmas, because someone made the ULTIMATE sacrifice. First by giving his only son, then dying. Not just some painless "die in your sleep" kinda thing, it was painful. A Crucifixion. Not very people would be willingly to do that for someone who didn't even deserve it. Selflessness.
In order to give all year long, you have be selfless for one thing. And you have to know what giving is. It's not tithing every pay check, it's more than just money. You can also give time and talents. Not just the ol' "help the old lady cross the street" but when someone needs help, to help them, even if out of your way and you'd rather not. Give them your time. Let them know you care. Talents are things you do well. Use your gifts to help others, and as a bonus you'll honor God. A song by Reliant K puts it this way:
I'll give, give until there's nothing else
Give my all until it all runs out
Give Give and I'll have no regrets
I'll give until there's nothing left
I'll give
One of the keys to Selflessness is Humility,not to be confused with humiliation. In the Book "Walking with Frodo" (yes, I have a LOTR devotional) it describes humiliation as "someone else putting you down" and Humility as "you putting yourself down." Humility's root word is Humus which means "dirt" can't get much lower than that, unless you go to the core of the earth. (which I don't think is possible)
Giving requires trust in God. Sometimes you'll wonder "If I do this I'm not sure I'll be able to do......" But you have to trust in God, because if you give him your time by doing something for someone else, he'll reward you. There are countless verses to back this up. Just flip open to Proverbs.
So in the Christmas rush remember to never lose sight of the one who was selfless enough to give all of us that perfect gift, the best gift you've EVER received or ever WILL receive.


P.S. Why does self have the word "elf" in it? Could it be that we all have a little elf within our self?