Years ago Wrigley Candy Co. had a slogan for DoubleMint Gum and it was as follows, “Double Your pleasure, Double Your fun with Doublemint Gum.” That gum had two different flavors of mint combined to form the unique taste they were pushing at the time. I don’t think people really thought about what the ad said after a while; they just liked the ring of it. But the truth was they had a found a brand new taste that was doubling the amount of mint that their competitors were distributing. They took the market by storm and people were drawn to DoubleMint Gum without knowing all that it took to make it new and unique. In other words, the truth of the science of the gum and all the sacrifice was forgotten and reduced to a mere slogan.
Year after year we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ with wonderful slogans that stir our hearts and cause us to reflect on God, family, church and the brevity of life. Those slogans, as good as they are, can never capture just what happened in Bethlehem over 2,000 years ago. The Son of God was born…not a favorite Christian slogan, but a truth. It happened! God was born to a human in a humble setting, probably a hay stall or manger…not a favorite story, but a truth. It happened! Because of that our joy and our love should be doubled, or tripled, or whatevered. Like DoubleMint Gum we have a great opportunity to “double our pleasure, double our fun” but our slogan is double the joy, double the love. Take note of 1 John 1:1-4 (The Message) below.
Our love for God should be premium as we think about the upcoming Christmas celebration. Our joy should be doubled as we absorb all that God did through the birth of Jesus, the Christ. Listen to John 1:14 (The Message): “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish.” Instead of“there goes the neighborhood”, it should be “love your neighbor like you love yourself.”
Get the real meaning of Christmas. Not this year, not this month, not this week, not this day, NOW! Jesus is IN THE HOUSE. Let Him double your joy, which will double your love. That kind of love carries the message to the masses and changes lives, and that is what we are all about.
The Pilgrimage continues...
David Warren
From the very first day, we were there, taking it all in—we heard it with our own ears, saw it with our own eyes, verified it with our own hands. The Word of Life appeared right before our eyes; we saw it happen! And now we're telling you in most sober prose that what we witnessed was, incredibly, this: The infinite Life of God himself took shape before us. We saw it, we heard it, and now we're telling you so you can experience it along with us, this experience of communion with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. Our motive for writing is simply this: We want you to enjoy this, too. Your joy will double our joy!
1 John 1:1-4 (MSG)
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