Enjoy The Gift Of Life In Jesus This Christmas

12.24.21 1 John 4:9

This is how God’s love for us was revealed: God has sent his only-begotten Son into the world so that we may live through him.

Enjoy the Gift of Life in Jesus this Christmas

Every Christmas we usually participate in a white elephant gift exchange of some sort, and half the fun is seeing the reaction on the person’s face as they open up the present to see what is actually inside. Most of the time the purpose of the gift is to just get a chuckle out of someone, and that’s about it.

Regular Christmas gifts are different, of course. You want to give someone something that they WANT or NEED. Yet you still want it to be a surprise. Half the fun of Christmas presents is in the mystery of not knowing what is inside. Sometimes, I might change things up by wrapping something in a bigger box or adding a bit of weight to it so they can’t guess or know right away.

When we celebrate the gift of Christmas, the gift of Jesus, it is so much different. It isn’t about what people typically ask for from God, like money or riches, romance or health. It doesn’t happen in a warm and comfortable living room with nice shiny wrapping paper. It happens in a cold, dark, and dying world, in a smelly cattle stall. It is given in the midst of heartache and pain, to people who have fallen for the devil’s lies and become selfish and evil; people who are living in a world of sickness and death and loneliness. Christmas isn’t about what we want or what WE think we need with gifts of entertainment and fun. It isn’t to make our lives better or more comfortable for a little bit. It’s given to change our lives.

Here’s another thing. At the original Christmas we don’t choose one of many presents to unwrap. We don’t have to unwrap a thing. God reveals it to us. It’s one present for all of us. And He wants us to know that this gift is the personification of His LOVE. Usually gifts are objects that are purchased at a store, built by someone else, perhaps purchased quickly, at the last minute. In the classic movie “Christmas Vacation,” Aunt Bethany had some form of dementia, so she wrapped her cat in a box. The cat wasn’t too thrilled to be in there. Not this gift.

This is how God’s love for us was revealed. Before His gift came, He had some pretty specific hints of what His present would be and where we could find it throughout the Old Testament prophecies. What does He give us? He wraps Himself in the flesh and sends Himself into our world in such a humble way, through the virgin Mary, being born in a cattle stall and placed in a manger. God comes into our world in a weak and vulnerable way, so that we can see Him, hear Him, touch Him, and hold Him. God puts Himself in the box. He calls out to the shepherds and says, “Look what I’ve brought you. Look at what I’ve become for you. Here I am.”

One of the most emotional songs that I love to listen to at Christmas time is a song by Josh Groban called, “I’ll be Home for Christmas.” What is especially emotional is that he intersperses audio messages of mothers and fathers who are serving overseas, who can’t be home with their own children for Christmas. The spouse, parent, or children would love nothing more than to see their family member at Christmas. Maybe you are the same way this year as a consequence of sin and death. Think then about what God does for us! At Christmas He comes into our miserable and dying home! He takes on our flesh. He makes Himself physically vulnerable. He comes here knowing that He will die a miserable death in the process. We can then see the unseeable, and actually feel and hear how gracious and merciful He really is as He speaks and cares for us in the flesh.

In a little stable, far across the sea

was the baby Jesus, born for you and me.

If I asked you to remember ANY of the gifts you received last year, how many of you would remember any of them? But every once in a while you receive something special, a unique gift that really catches your attention. It isn’t always that special looking or expensive either. I still have a book by C.S. Lewis that one of my favorite professors at the Seminary decided to give me, which he thought I would like and personally signed with a note. I could have bought that book on Amazon for 10 or 15 bucks maybe. But this one is special because it was HIS and he personally signed it and gave it to ME. What makes this gift of Jesus unique? It is personal. It is one of a kind. It is precious to God. It’s alive, and it’s beaming with life! It is the Creator of life!