Ode to The Grinch

In the original version of, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!,” you’ll likely remember the green grumpy guy filled with malice. Not only does the Grinch not want Christmas, he’s also determined that the people of Who-ville shouldn’t have it either. So he schemes and sneaks to rob the people of Who-ville of their gifts and possessions. Surely that will wreck their Christmas.

 

Dr. Suess suspects “the most likely reason” for the Grinch’s hate “may have been that his heart was two sizes too small.” That would explain the grump’s complete surprise at the response of the residents of Who-ville upon finding out all their goods had been stolen.

 

As the Grinch is getting ready to toss the contents of Who-ville off the top of Mt. Crumpit, he hears a growing noise coming up the mountain. Despite their material loss, the people of Who-ville were singing. And singing joyfully at that. After three hours of puzzling over this contradiction, the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t thought of before: maybe Christmas doesn’t come from a store or from having more!

 

The people of Who-ville say what happened next is that the Grinch’s small heart grew three sizes that day. Back down the mountain he went, joyfully returning all he’d taken. But wait. Can a heart really grow three times its size? And what is the process going on inside a heart that causes it to grow?

 

It’s an interesting phenomenon I experienced just two weeks ago. I was the guest speaker at a local church to a group of people working on their marriages. The meeting began with the group standing and singing, and I was sitting in the back of the room waiting for my turn to go up front. I was there as the expert, prepped and ready to go. As I looked around the room at the people attending the class, there were many in the room who began to express themselves in worship by raising their hands.

 

Then that Grinch-thing happened. I was stabbed in the heart. It hurt, almost to tears. Upon further reflection, the closest I can come to what I think happened is the incident in Elijah’s life (1 Kings 19; Rom. 11:2-4) when, while doing the Lord’s work, Elijah got caught thinking he was Somebody Special. At that moment, the Lord informed Elijah there were seven thousand other men in the area who Elijah was not aware of who also loved and served the Lord. I might have been the expert in the room that night, but I got caught with thoughts about myself as Somebody Special that are not true.

 

Where there’s a humbling, it hurts. It hurts because your heart is being recalibrated. For the Grinch, for me, and for Elijah, that moment of realization came in a seemingly spontaneous moment. It happens. One never knows when, out of God’s sheer generosity, he chooses to convict and humble us in order to give us more grace. It’s actually an opportunity to grow your heart.

 

Since one can never know when such kindness might occur, it’s wise to do what we can to plan for those moments to happen more regularly. The Wind blows where it will, but we can at least have our sails ready!

 

How, then, can we plan for this?

 

Christian Scripture tells us there are prescribed means by which God conveys grace to his people. Regularly gathering for corporate worship is one such means. Another of those means is the intake of Scripture itself. For example, “Rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, and like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord” (1 Peter 2:1-3).

 

What I’m going to do over the next month, and I’m encouraging you to do the same, is to make or acquire a plan to regularly read Scripture throughout the coming New Year. This past year, for example, I decided to slow down and read through the New Testament in a year (there are lots of plans available for free on the web). If you’ve never read through the entire Bible, you should make that a goal. Download a 2-year plan that does it since a 1-year plan is pretty aggressive if you follow my next recommendation.

 

To help my understanding of Scripture, I’ll always be reading other books that complement the Scripture I’m reading. If you’re going to read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, then find a book that works like a throughline to tie the whole of Scripture together. It will do your faith wonders to see the arc of Scripture’s story as well as the various threads that tie it all together. Or you could get a commentary on a specific book you’re interested in. Then create a reading schedule for yourself to work through it at a pace that’s doable for you. If you want recommendations, I’m willing to help.

 

I’m a slow reader. Mostly because I’m making both written and mental notes as I go. The more you read Scripture, the more you’ll make connections with other parts of Scripture. You can sometimes feel your heart coming to agree with Paul when he cries, “Oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and unfathomable his ways” (Rom. 11:33).

 

Here's what I can promise you: mostly imperceptibly, if you do something similar in reading, studying, meditating, and internalizing Scripture, you’ll be building your faith in Christ and creating a worldview that will help you keep perspective in a world clamoring for your attention. Slowly, the concern of what others think of you will be replaced with concern for what God thinks of you. Progressively, the desire for status and how to signal it will be replaced with contentment that your place in God’s family is secure. Bit by bit, anxiety about being smart regarding the things of this world will be replaced by the wisdom of Christ that settles your heart and brings peace. In fact, your heart will have grown!

 

Finally, some are concerned that scheduled Bible reading has within it the danger of becoming rote and ritualistic. True. But that is just a different danger than reading on a when-I-feel-like-it approach which then mostly doesn’t happen. You’re more likely to find gold and diamonds when digging in the dirt than you are by hoping it’ll someday just drop in your lap.

 

Because “you have been born again not of seed which is perishable, but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God” (1 Peter 1:23).