If you want an example of what a committed follower looks like, you really don't have to look any further than Buddy the Elf. The guy is a shining beacon of happiness and joy in every respect. He's cartoonishly optimistic and unwaveringly loyal to his first love, Christmas. And while there's a lot of Elf's actions that I'd advise against mimicking - like putting pop tarts and maple syrup in your spaghetti tomorrow night - I think as representatives of Jesus we actually have a lot to learn from Buddy.
We really can't go further, though, unless we realize something important about Buddy. Because if I asked you to do an impression of Buddy the elf right now, in a public space, those of you who would say no would probably all give the same reason: "I still have some dignity left in me and I'd like to preserve it." To be fair, Buddy does make a fool of himself throughout the film. I hope you've all seen it. From getting sick after running a hundred times through a revolving door to trying to hug a raccoon, Buddy's extreme exuberance towards life makes him look really, really silly. You might not start singing in a store just to prove a point, but Buddy would. And why is that? Is it because he doesn't care what people think?
I believe that one of the biggest barriers between me and sharing my faith with others is my fear and pride. I don't wanna look like Buddy did there when I'm talking about Jesus. I don't want others to think less of me because I talk about the person who changed my life. The people who share their faith more than me - well, they must not care about what people think as much as I do.
But when you look at Buddy, that just doesn't add up. Buddy absolutely cares about what people think. I know this because he is always trying to change the way people think. When he meets Jovie for the first time, she says "I'm just trying to get through the holiday season". She is clearly not enjoying all the Christmas festivities. Now, if I were in Buddy's place, that would be the part where I would back off and say something like, "Yeah, Christmas can be a really stressful time" or something like that where I can try and find some common ground with her so I don't look silly for loving Christmas. The master plan would then be to try and casually bring up some good parts of Christmas and then before you know it, she's asking questions, and then a few days later - bam, she's saved. But that is not Buddy's approach. He says 'woah, wait, you must not know the same Christmas that I do. Because if you knew the Christmas I knew, you wouldn't be saying that. You'd never be the same.' It's not that he doesn't care what she thinks. It's that to him, her realizing how great Christmas is is more important than her and him finding something agreeable to talk about.
He cares more about what she thinks of Christmas than what she thinks of him.
I am far too guilty of doing the opposite. There have been so many times when I have made what others thought of me more important than what others thought of Jesus. Buddy just can't contain himself because Christmas has just been too good to him. Christmas is what gave him the life that he has, and he loves every second of it. And because of that joy, he's just got to tell the world how great Christmas is. Because if other people can know the joy he knows, the world would be changed.
Now, I am not saying you need to go start singing in public spaces. There's a difference between great carolling and the Great Commission. But what I am saying is there's something so admirable in a guy who is wholly devoted to what he believes in. What kind of elf would he be if every time someone said something bad about Christmas, he backed into the corner of the room? What kind of representative of Santa Claus would that make him?
We are Jesus' representatives. And if Jesus has changed your life the way Christmas changed Buddy's, we should be committed to sharing the joy that we've found. There are gonna be people who don't share our joy, but our job is not to find other people who already have our joy. That's not sharing the love of Christ. I want to find the people like Jovie who don't know Jesus like I know Jesus. Because if they knew Jesus like I knew Jesus, they wouldn't be saying the things they say.
Fulfilling the Great Commission is not about not caring what others think. It's about knowing that the truth you hold within you is far too important to cover up.
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If you liked this, check out Matthew's other Christmas projects.