During Advent I want to take four non-sacred aspects of Christmastime and look at how we can use them to point ourselves and our families to Christ. We will look at Christmas lights, Christmas trees, Christmas food and Christmas presents. Hopefully, these four things will train your eyes to remember Jesus well.
I was rarely the "I got to have it" kid when it came to Christmas. There's only a couple years I remember being fixated on a thing I just had to have.
One year I badly wanted the Ghostbusters car. We were dirt poor that year and my parents scrimped and saved to get me that one thing. Since it was their only gift to me they went big. They made a parachute for it, rang a bell (that they claimed was from Santa's sleigh) and had me run out to see it had been dropped down for me late from old Kris Kringle. I still fondly remember that Christmas. My Aunt Sally got us the original Nintendo that year, but even that amazing gift couldn't compete with the one thing my parents worked so hard to give me.
Another year I just had to have a Super Nintendo. To be honest, I only really wanted to play NBA Jam Tournament Edition. I was, in my recollection, a pain in the butt. I remember begging my mom and dad and hinting and hinting and hinting. The Warrensburg, Missouri Pizza Hut had the arcade version of NBA Jam so I just had to have my dad play with me so he could understand what an amazing gift this would be for his beloved first born son. On Christmas Eve as we opened gifts my mom accidentally gave me the Super Game Boy cartridge before she gave me the Super Nintendo itself. I was thrilled at seeing that cartridge because I knew my begging and pleading and hinting had paid off.
Did you have a gift you were fixated on as a kid?
"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16
When God wanted to give the greatest gift, what did He give? His Son.
When we think about the gifts of Christmas our minds should come often to Jesus Himself. God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit offer us all sorts of amazing gifts: eternal life, forgiveness of sins, adoption, justification, sanctification, reconciliation with God, glorified bodies, the New Heaven and New Earth, and more. All of these Gospel gifts are found IN the person of Jesus. When we get Jesus we get it all.
Jesus is the gift of Christmas.
Jesus cannot and will not be earned. He was given to us out of the extreme love of God.
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith... and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God..." Ephesians 2:8
"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23
The present of Jesus cannot be earned and IN Him is the eternal life and all that the other Gospel benefits. We are like children on Christmas who have no means to earn what we want or need most. We, like children, simply need to receive the gifts the One who loves us purchased for us.
This Christmas we can't miss Jesus. As we finish our shopping and as we open our good gifts, may we never forget the ultimate gift we got at Christmas: Jesus our Immanuel! God with us! When Moses asked to see the face of God he was denied. Mary got to kiss the face of God. The incarnation of Jesus and His sacrifice for us is no small gift, it is THE gift.
Reflect on the gift of Jesus and desire Him more than I coveted a Ghostbusters car or Super Nintendo today.
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