Boxing day aftermath. How shall we then live?

“It's all over bar the shouting!” I don't know the origin of the phrase, but it was well known in the circles I moved in, and it expressed the disappointment of “the morning after.” After all the hype of Christmas, the over indulgence and the consequence thereof, my friend was expressing anticlimax and disappointment, if not a tinge of regret. It is Boxing day, and the commercial hype continues with Boxing day sales, or is it Boxing week, or Boxing year sales? The name “Boxing day” is said to originate in Britain where “Christmas boxes” (presents) are said to have been given to the servants. Another suggestion is that it was a reference to charity drives. Several years ago now, Mother suggested, instead of the adults giving each other presents (with some of us notoriously difficult to buy for), that we give gifts to charity in each other's name. It leaves a much better taste in our mouths, than receiving a matching pen and pencil that we neither needed, nor wanted. And this way we likely did not spend more than we could afford. I am, of course, talking about the (relatively) affluent West.

I say “relatively affluent,” since I am well aware that many in Canada live below the Canadian poverty level. And I am grateful for the programs like “angel tree,” that provides Christmas presents for children whose parents are interned in prison. I am grateful for the various food banks, and charities like Salvation Army that feed and cloth the Canadian poor. I am grateful too for Samaritan's purse's “Operation Christmas child,” that sends shoe box size presents to children in underdeveloped countries. Many of these kids have never received a Christmas gift ever. Watching videos of them opening their boxes that contain things like school supplies, as well as other things, is heartwarming. But I am also aware that in wanting to “give our children what we never had,” we may unintentionally have taught them to feel entitled.

Researcher Paul Piff concludes that “As people get richer, they are more likely to feel entitled, to exploit others, and to cheat.” But the welfare system, where the government provides everything, can produce the same attitudes. The so called “Protestant work ethic” which attached value to responsibility, hard work, thrift, and efficiency, is in danger of going out the window. It is however, largely responsible for the success of Capitalism. Someone has said that Capitalism is bad, except that everything else is worse. If history teaches us anything, it seems to be true that those countries, where the government is expected to provide everything for everyone, inevitably go bankrupt. So how shall we then live? Paul sums it up this way “The love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again” (2 Corinthians 5:14, 15). This seems to me to be the very opposite of entitlement.

Father, forgive us Lord for any part we have played in teaching others to feel entitled, and for our own wrong attitudes. Please give us Your wisdom Lord, and the Grace we need to live for You, and not for ourselves. We want be Your Ambassador disciples Lord, and to display Your Character to this wicked and hurting World, so that many may see and fear and be saved, in Your precious Name we pray Amen