Seeing Christmas

by Steve Phillips, Brandon Heath fan club president

I was thinking about writing this blog on the “sights” of Christmas when a song came into my mind.  It’s called “Give Me Your Eyes” and the chorus includes these lyrics:

Give me Your eyes for just one second

Give me Your eyes so I can see

Everything that I keep missing

Give me Your love for humanity

I knew very clearly that this had to be a prompting from God because I can’t stand this song.  My apologies to all the Brandon Heath fans, but it’s just one of those songs that I find painful to listen to.  Sometimes my opinion of a song is changed when we sing it in worship, but I’m not even sure the Rob Hall version can change my mind on this one.  But regardless of my opinion, what does this song have to do with Christmas? 

In Matthew 13:13 (NLT), Jesus told his disciples: “That is why I use these parables, for they look, but they don't really see. They hear, but they don't really listen or understand.”

There is so much we love to see at Christmas: lights and decorations, cards on the mantle, and a different Hallmark movie every night.  One of my favorite sights is the chaos of five kids on Christmas morning.  But, how often do we get caught up “looking” at the sights of Christmas and fail to “see” Christmas through God’s eyes?

The sounds, sights, and smells of the first Christmas were quite different than what we associate with Christmas today.  This year, let’s take a moment to look past the lights and decorations and “see” the beautiful simplicity of the first Christmas and appreciate the wonder of God that is Jesus Christ.   

John encouraged us in his sermon a couple of weeks ago to focus on the faces of the kids who will be the recipients of our Big Give this year.  Don’t just “look” at Bags of Blessings as a worthy, charitable cause without “seeing” the kids who have to bury their bags in the yard so their mother won’t come home high on crack and eat everything, leaving the children with no food for the weekend (a true story my wife, Joanne, was told while volunteering).  My prayer for this Christmas is “open my eyes to see the wonderful truths in your instructions” (Psalm 119:18; NLT).

Or in other words:

Give me Your eyes for just one second
Give me Your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me Your love for humanity

Steve and his family (Joanne, Jack, Sam, Laura, Nathan, and Eli) joined Cove Church in 2008. Since then, he has been active with the First Impressions team, in couple’s and men’s C groups, and with local and international mission partners.

The “sight” of Christmas at the Phillips’ house