Merry Christmas to all my family and friends, brothers and sisters in Christ!
I feel a bit like a cheater this morning as I'm not going to post my own writings but that of a young man, Sean Patrick Muldowney. I've never met this young man, and although we are 30 years apart in age, we have two things in common: we are both graduates of University of Connecticut and we both are followers of Jesus Christ. I met him through Facebook and have recently been acquainted with his blog. I am posting his Christmas Blog today. I encourage you to follow this link and read more of what he has written!
Merry Christmas!!!! may you remember that Jesus is kind to the ungrateful of which I am the most ungrateful! Lord have mercy! O come let us adore Him!

Kind to the Ungrateful
Posted by sean patrick on December 25, 2008

This Christmas Eve, I sit at the computer in the upstairs office at the teen crisis shelter I work at. I supervise three teenage boys arguing and fighting while playing Madden. I couldn’t be happier.
I wasn’t much in the Christmas spirit over these last few weeks. Not many decorations up in my house. The annual family stress and drama reared its ugly head again. I’m so caught up in work and other projects that I haven’t had much time so take in the smells and bells of the season.
That’s why I’m glad to be where I am right now, at work. I’m glad I’m working Christmas Eve overnight, into a double on Christmas morning. I’m glad to be somewhere different; someplace that makes me appreciate what I have; someplace that isn’t so much caught up in the hype.
The following verse has wrecked me over the past week:
But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. Luke 6:35-36
At least two applications for me. The first being, my Father has always been kind towards me in all my ungratefulness. For 19 years I was aware of Christ’s birth, life, death, and resurrection. I paid it litte mind, other than to accepting it as historical fact that Jesus died for people’s sins. I lived carelessly and ungratefully, not knowing I had a need to have a real relationship with Him, until I was confronted with the Gospel. My attitude changed once I was awakened to the fact that Christ did what He did for me. The Father sent Him for me. I was condemned for my sin. Christ bore God’s wrath that was being stored up for me. The Lord woke me up to repentance and faith, and I became grateful for more than a historical act, but for redemption applied.
Now as a follower of Christ, I am commanded to heed Jesus’ teaching here. I am to love without condition, love my enemy, and be kind to the ungrateful, as my Father is. This is especially poignant concerning where I work. I can often struggle over the fact that the kids I work with often come off as ungrateful. I mean, they could be on the streets right now. They could be in an abusive household. They could be freezing under an overpass. They could be hustling or being hustled. We provide them with so much, and sometimes they seem to be less than thankful.
Christ’s teaching here gives me no place to condemn ungratefulness. If anything, I should give thanks that my heart is being searched. I am ungrateful….for a job, a home, a family, a church, close friends, comfort, etc, etc.
Jesus never commands us to do anything that He has not lived out Himself. He was kind to me in all of my ingratitude. He was patient with me in my rebellion. He was longsuffering towards me in my religious hypocrisy. As a believer, He is kind towards me in my struggles and failures, up to and including living out this command that has caused so much self-examination.
All of this reminds me that I’m a work in progress, that I’m not a finished product. My lack of Christmas spirit compels me to set my affections on Christ. The holiday atmosphere isn’t a consolation to me. But Christ’s invasion into human history….His search and resuce mission to redeem the lost….with me specifically in mind….this brings me joy.
His gift to me this season is Himself. My gift to Him is to lay down my life, more and more, over and over. I’m reminded to show love to the ungrateful, as He has shown love to me. I become grateful for the ungrateful, knowing that I am no different apart from God’s grace, and knowing that they may become vessels of grace just as I have.
I walk among those whom Jesus was born among. The kids are more thankful than I realize. Blessed am I this Christmas Eve into the morning. Merry, to know my Savior, and to live His life among those in need. No hype.