Revelation 2:4 — Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.

We were in Our local Walmart Superstore today. (Not picking on Walmart, but what I saw today focused my attention on the topic of today’s devotion.) It’s December 27th. The Christmas signage has been replaced by “Valentines Day” promotions …
I was reminded of the words of John Lennon!

So this is Christmas and what have you done?
Another year over and a new one just begun?And so this is Christmas.

Really. A tip of the hat to the Christ child, a gift-giving splurge, a few jolly festivities and … On to the next Festival of Commerce!
Do you remember the song about the Twelve Days of Christmas? The Christmas holiday used to be celebrated from Christmas Eve to January 6th — the Feast of the Epiphany, Twelfth Night. Somehow this year it seemed as though Christmas was being squeezed out — and this shift from Christmas to the spurious celebration of romantic love felt like the cherry on the secular cake!
It’s a long time since Christmas was last pushed out of America. In 1659 The Puritans of Massachusetts passed a law that said “Whoever shall be found observing any such day as Christmas and the like, either by forbearing labor, feasting or any other way, shall pay for any such offense five shillings as a fine to the country.” Christmas wasn’t a legal holiday in Massachusetts until 1681!
I’ve had the sense this year that the years-long push to get Christ out of Christmas has been more successful than ever before.
I think it’s time to bring back the Spirit of Ebenezer Scrooge — the reformed version, of course:

I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach!

Mind you, I’m not so much thinking of the three Spirits of Christmas as the three Persons of the Trinity!
I know that in some quarters it’s contentious to insist on America’s Christian roots — but I think the case is proven. And so it’s time to recapture that first love. The two verses in the Revelation that go before the one at the head of this devotion say:

I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: and hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast labored, and hast not fainted.

So how do all these scattered thoughts pull together?
There are so many Christians in America, and so many churches, doing so much great earnest hard work. But there are so many people struggling just as hard to undermine their work. They don’t have that same love in their hearts — and they’re OK with fighting dirty. We have to be prepared to fight back with love in both hands … And not the “love” of Valentine’s Day, but the love that knows no limits, and never ends …