“What do you want for Christmas this year?”
It’s a question that I often start asking pretty early on. Say…In September?
Why?
Because by the time everyone in my family has the time to think about Christmas and give me a wishlist, it is usually well into November! Imagine how late I would get the wishlists if I didn’t start asking until December!
With all the emphasis on “getting”, I have tried to instill in my family the joy of “giving” at Christmas time. My boys learned very quickly how good it made them feel to see the smile on their papa’s face when he received one of their gifts! And I am pleased to say that this “joy of giving” seems to have permeated itself through my little world. Rather than asking me what I want for Christmas, many of my friends ask me what I am planning on giving my boys for Christmas!
And yes, Christmas is really about giving, isn’t it? It is about God giving of Himself in the form of a tiny baby. It’s about Jesus giving of Himself on a cruel Roman cross. It’s about the Holy Spirit giving of Himself in the form of our Comforter and Counselor!
But isn’t it also about receiving?
Let’s say you buy your adult son the perfect gift. You wrap it up and put it under the Christmas tree, just waiting for him to return home for the holidays. But something happens and he can’t come home for Christmas! You have the perfect gift under the tree, but you have no one to give it to!
Yes, Christmas is also about receiving. A gift means nothing if it isn’t received! And though God’s gift for us was given back in Bethlehem, more than 2000 years ago, it is a gift that can still be received. God’s greatest joy is for each of His children to receive it! But is it just a one-time gift?
In this three part Christmas series, we will look at the different levels of this wonderful Gift, and we will discuss what we need to do to truly receive the gift of God to the fullest! Today, we will look at the immediate meaning of the gift. Anyone who receives God’s gift of baby Jesus and Jesus’ sacrifice will receive salvation! That’s what Baby Jesus came to give! Freedom from sin! “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” (Acts 16:31).
When Baby Jesus came to this Earth, He had a mission to fulfill, and it was to save sinners! “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.” (1 Tim. 1:15). And to do that, Jesus left the riches of Heaven to come and live among the scum of creation: Sin-laden mankind! Consider the following text: “…did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross…” (Philippians 2:6–8).
Why was this necessary?
Because sin separates us from God! “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.” (Isa 59:2, NKJV). Adam and Eve walked with God in the Garden of Eden. They talked with God, face to face, but the moment sin entered the world, they hid themselves. Why? Because sin created a rift where there had once been a relationship, and as a result, no one can have face to face communion with God!
But Jesus’ gift repairs the rift that happened in Eden. It is the gift that makes us right again with God, that reconciles us again with God: “…that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.” (1 Cor. 5:19).
As a result of Jesus’ Christmas gift, we can once again walk and talk with God. We can have a relationship with Him, and when the last days of our lives have come to us, we can have the assurance that we will go to live with Him in Heaven, where we will walk and talk with Him for eternity!
Now that’s a gift worth receiving!
But all gifts come with a price tag. Sometimes they cost us money, sometimes time, and sometimes our creativity. But all gifts cost something, and Jesus’ gift is no different: Jesus’ Christmas gift to us cost Him His life. Now there’s a sacrifice the most of us aren’t willing to make, even for those we love the most, and even at Christmas!
Join us on Saturday for The Greatest Gift, Part 2: The Giving Gift!
In His love,
Lyn
Lyn Chaffart, Speech-Language Pathologist, mother of two teens, Author and Moderator for The Nugget, a tri-weekly internet newsletter, and Scriptural Nuggets, a website devoted to Christian devotionals and inspirational poems, with Answers2Prayer Ministries.
(To access the entire “The Greatest Gift” mini-series, please click here.)