God’s Christmas Gift

Christmas is known as a season of gift-giving. We could complain about the commercialization of Christmas, but I doubt it would change anyone’s mind. Of course, as Christians we realize the most important gift associated with Christmas is the gift of Jesus by our Heavenly Father. One of the most quoted scriptures affirms this, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16 NKJV).

Jesus Christ is the greatest gift God has ever given. He is also the greatest gift we could ever receive.

A Gift Must Have Forethought
Few people care for a ‘spur of the moment’ gift that someone rushes into a department store to purchase without much thought or care. The best gift is probably something we would buy for ourselves.

The Bible tells us that the Father had Jesus prepared to be our sacrificial gift before the world began. Jesus was not an afterthought or a plan B; He was a planned and purposeful gift.

A Gift Must Have Value
A gift that cost us nothing is not really a gift. In our culture we have a term called “re-gifting” which is giving a gift that we have received from someone else. It is usually something that we did not like, so we gave it to get out of a jam or just to be cheap. If we regift something, we are giving something that we did not want to receive in the first place.

Christ is the greatest gift. He is the gift of a perfect life sacrificed for the ungodly. In a real sense, God gave Himself.

A Gift Must Have the Receiver in Mind
We do not buy a certain number of random gifts and then decide who will receive them. No, we usually give some thought and even do a little detective work to get the right gift for an individual.

Father God had us in mind when He sent Jesus into the world. We are important to Him, and the gift of His Son demonstrates our worth to Him. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8 NKJV).

Merry Christmas and enjoy your gift from God this year!!

Yours on the Journey,

Harry L. Whitt