вЂњYour attitude should be the same as that of Christ JesusвЂќ (Philippians 2:5). вЂњYou know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become richвЂќ (2 Corinthians 8:9). If we desire spiritual quickening for ourselves individually, one step we should take is to seek to cultivate this spirit. If God in mercy revives us, one of the things he will do will be to work more of this spirit in our hearts and lives. There are not as many who show this spirit as there should be. For the Christmas spirit is the spirit of those who, like their Master, live their whole lives on the principle of making themselves poorвЂ“spending and being spentвЂ“to enrich their fellow humans, giving time, trouble, care and concern, to do good to othersвЂ“and not just their own friendsвЂ“in whatever way there seems need. The Christmas spirit does not shine out in the Christian snob. Nor is it the spirit of those ChristiansвЂ“alas, they are manyвЂ“whose ambition in life seems limited to building a nice middle-class Christian home, and making nice middle-class Christian friends, and bringing up their children in nice middle-class Christian ways, and who leave the submiddle-class sections of the community, Christian and non-Christian, to get on by themselves. It is our shame and disgrace today that so many ChristiansвЂ“I will be more specific: so many of the soundest and most orthodox ChristiansвЂ“go through this world in the spirit of the priest and the Levite in our LordвЂ™s parable, seeing human needs all around them, but (after a pious wish, and perhaps a prayer, that God might meet those needs) averting their eyes and passing by on the other side.

And the Christmas spirit itself ought to be the mark of every Christian all the year round. it ought to mean the reproducing in human lives of the temper of him who for our sakes became poor at the first Christmas.

We talk glibly of the вЂњChristmas spirit,вЂќ rarely meaning more by this than sentimental jollity on a family basis. Is that not what it means to know me?вЂќ (Jeremiah 22:16) May God one day say of us what He said of King Josiah: вЂњHe defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Packer about what it means to truly have a God-honoring вЂњChristmas Spirit.вЂќ I appreciate these challenging words from J.

J i packer