Creator, Father, King #358

Thank God for this gift too wonderful for words!

WHAT’S THE WORST CHRISTMAS present you’ve ever received? A fruitcake? An ugly sweater with a hideous pattern that may have been hip in 1982? A shiny glass tree ornament shaped like a toilet bowl plunger? (Yep, they make them—google it.)

Or has anyone ever played the trick on you where they give you a huge gift-wrapped box, but you open it only to find it’s filled with progressively smaller, empty boxes, until you get to a really small box with the gift inside? And who doesn’t have a well-meaning relative who always gives you something crazy each year?!

Half of the fun of giving and receiving presents is the anticipation of not knowing what’s to come. Christmas gifts are not always what they seem, and they are not always what we expect.

In many ways, God’s Son, Jesus Christ, was the same way. But he was infinitely greater than anyone could have ever anticipated.

What’s It Mean?

It sounds cliché, but make no mistake: Jesus is the greatest gift the world has ever known. Through his Son, God has done something for sinful humanity that—apart from the regenerating work of his Spirit—we neither wanted, expected, nor knew we needed (Ephesians 2:1-9).

Ever since the Fall, God had promised a coming Savior (Genesis 3:15) and continued proclaiming this message of messianic hope through the Old Testament prophets. But when Jesus was born, the world barely noticed. When Jesus started his public ministry, the world largely rejected him. Jesus was a Messiah whom the world wasn’t expecting. As the apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 1:23, “When we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense.”

It’s no different today. Everywhere, people are hurting, looking for answers, and desperately drowning in their sins. God holds out the same gift of salvation to all who would believe in his Son.

Most people disregard God’s gift completely. Some people curiously begin to unpeel the wrapping, take a peek inside, but ultimately leave the gift alone—nothing more than a fleeting interest. A few receive the gift with faith and thanksgiving, overwhelmed at God’s mercy and grace toward them through Christ, and live a life in joyful obedience to him.

Which one of these describes you?

Now What?

Give a gift to someone in need this week, just like God gave you the gift of his Son.

Did You Know?

Ultimately, every good gift you receive in this life—both spiritual and material—is from the Lord (James 1:17).