So now faith, hope and love abide, these three, but the greatest of these is love

 "So now faith, hope and love abide, these three, but the greatest of these is love." 1 Cor. 13:13 (ESV)

The gift-giving season is upon us, isn’t it? We’ve been reminded of it since before Thanksgiving was even over and it will intensify even more in the next few days. Now I’m not opposed to the giving of gifts or the benevolent spirit of this season, I just think that it should be in us all year around. But, the idea of a "gift" is the basis of my thoughts today and I appreciate your gift of spending a few moments of your precious time in the consideration of them.

One of our most often heard songs of the Christmas season came into being as a "gift of love." I’m going to tell you the story behind this particular song and then use it to lead us into some spiritual thoughts I have regarding a "gift of love." I know that most of us like hearing the songs of this season and perhaps this one is one of your favorites.

Actually, it’s more than just "one" of this season’s songs. With the exception of "White Christmas" it has sold more records than any other Christmas song. You may have heard how this song came into being, and if so, please forbear my repeating it. But, if you haven’t, I think that you’ll find it interesting.

Robert L. May is the writer of the story behind the song. In essence, it was the autobiography of his life put into the form of a fable. You see, Bob was small as a kid and wasn’t able to play sports like the other kids. Because of this he was bullied by the other boys and called names that were not very nice.

He managed to go to college and graduate and then marry his sweetheart. This was during the "great depression" and he was fortunate enough to get a job as a copywriter for the Montgomery Wards Co. in Chicago. But then tragedy struck - his wife died of cancer just before Christmas, 1938, leaving him with their young daughter, Barbara.

His wife’s illness had cost them all of their savings and after she died, he and Barbara had to live in a small two-room apartment in a slum area. It was Christmas and he had no money to buy his daughter a present so he decided to write a book and give it to her as a Christmas gift. So, he created an animal character and told his story, which really came from Bob’s memory of his younger life when he suffered as a misfit and was belittled by his childhood companions.

His "animal" was a little reindeer named Rudolph that had a big shiny nose. He finished the book just in time for it to be his gift of love to Barbara on Christmas Day. What happened then is the next step of the story. His boss, the general manager of Montgomery Ward heard about the little book and offered Bob a small fee to purchase the rights to print the book. The company printed "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and gave it to children visiting Santa at their stores.

It was so popular that by 1946 they had given away over 6 million copies and a major publishing firm approached them, wanting to buy the rights to the book. In a gesture that’s almost unprecedented today, the CEO of Wards gave the rights back to Bob and the book became a best-seller.

By then, Bob had remarried and had started another family. He became wealthy due to the publishing of the book. But then, something else happened. His brother-in-law, Johnny Marks, made a song adaptation to the story.

Much to their later chagrin I’m sure, Bing Crosby and Dinah Shore turned the song down, however the "Singing Cowboy," Gene Autry didn’t and it was released in 1949 and has been a phenomenal success ever since. All because of a gift of love that Bob May gave to his little daughter on that sad Christmas in 1938. I would say that his gift was returned many times over, wouldn’t you?

Let’s let the idea of a "gift of love" take us on into our spiritual lesson today. The phrase "gift of God" is found numerous times in the Bible and I’d like to start this portion of the lesson by asking a question: "What would you say the "gift of God" is? Personally, I think that there are several answers to that question, all based on scriptural references. My answer to this question would be the words found in Rom. 6:23 where we’re told that the "free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord."

Yes, "eternal life" would be an answer, but what I’m intending to do here in giving you my answer is to look at the lowest common denominator involved and we’ll do it this way. I think that God’s "love" is where we back up to in our equation. The famous verse of John 3:16 is a good place to start: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life."

All of mankind was given God’s "gift of love" in the form of Jesus Christ. The apostle John probably explained it best with his words in 1John 4:9-10: "In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins."

When you read the rest of 1John 4 you see that we show our appreciation of God’s "gift of love" by being obedient to the Gospel of Christ and also by emulating Him by our love. We love God and we love our brethren and we love the souls of our fellow man. When we do this, we try to do the best for everyone. And that "best" is to show them the way for them to receive "eternal life."

The operative word in the above paragraph is "do." 1John 3:18 tells us that "love" is not just talk. It’s not just lip-service. Well, let’s just read it together: "Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth." That’s a powerful thought seen there. In today’s vernacular, "Love" is "walking the walk" and not just "talking the talk."

I can’t close these thoughts without a short look at the 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians, also sometimes called the "love chapter." I cited the 13th verse at the onset of this lesson, but I’d like for you to read the whole chapter for yourself. When you do you’ll find that - it doesn’t matter what you accomplish. It doesn’t matter what you do. It doesn’t matter how much you do. In keeping with the "season," it doesn’t matter how many or how expensive the presents given are. If it’s done without "love" it’s worthless as far as God is concerned.

Perhaps in the future, when you hear the song "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer," you’ll recall that it was a "gift of love" from a father to his child. Then perhaps, you’ll be reminded that the greatest "gift of love" from The Father to his children is "eternal life" through His Son, Jesus Christ.

Respectfully submitted,

Ron Covey