REMINDER OF GOD’S GIFT, THAT WORDS CAN’T EXPRESS
The big day has finally arrived! So many of the celebrations of the season come together on Christmas Day. One of the biggest celebrations is giving and opening gifts. What exciting fun!
Exchanging Christmas gifts should remind us of Jesus Christ who is the greatest gift ever given! Listen to what the Bible says Jesus did in giving this gift, what His gift does for us, and how we should respond to Jesus’ gift:
Jesus was rich but for us, He became poor.
Jesus, who always was and always will be God’s Son, was rich in many ways before He was born. He was rich in His being as God’s Son. He was rich as the King over all. He was rich in His power and great might. He was rich because all that exists belongs to Him.
Yet, Jesus became poor. He did not stop being God but He willingly gave up many of His rights as God. He left the glory of heaven. He took on Himself a human nature. He was born to a poor and humble couple. He obeyed all that God told Him to do and served people. He was crucified on the cross, died, and was buried. He stayed in the grave for three days before rising from the dead. Jesus did all of this for our sake because He loves us.
Through Jesus, we who are poor might become rich.
We may have many things, live in a nice home and not want for anything. Therefore, we may not think of ourselves as poor. However, when the Bible says we are poor, it means that we are poor in our relationship with God. We were made in God’s image but our sin greatly spoils that image. Our sin separates us from God, earns us God’s displeasure, and leaves us unable to make things right with God. The Bible says we are without God and without hope. We are poor.
But, through Jesus, we can become rich in our relationship with God. Jesus pays the penalty for our sin so that God forgives us. Jesus obeys God’s law for us so that God sees us in Jesus’ righteousness. Jesus gives us His Spirit to make us spiritually alive and able to believe the Good News. Jesus reunites us with His Father who adopts us as His children and makes us members of His family. Jesus gives us wisdom from His word and power from His Spirit so that we might grow to be more like Him. He watches over us and keeps us in His love. He has prepared a place in heaven for us. Every spiritual blessing is given to us in Jesus Christ.
We receive God’s gift by faith alone.
God gives us Jesus and His salvation as a gift. We don’t deserve this blessing from God and we can’t earn it. We receive God’s gift by believing in Jesus Christ (see the devotion on how the Christmas tree reminds us of Jesus’ cross for more information on believing in Jesus Christ). Jesus tells us that we receive God’s gift through faith: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
We thank God for Giving Us Jesus:
Because Christ has made us rich in God’s love, we are to “thank God for His inexpressible gift.” We should often say ‘thank you’ to God for giving us Jesus! We should also thank God by happily serving and giving to others so they also may become rich in Christ.