God's Gift To The World

Merry Christmas!

Christmas. I love Christmas! But what do I love about it? Do I love the worldly ideal of Christmas-the decorations, the music, the baking, the shopping, traditions- or do I truly love what caused us to put aside this special day in the first place?

I would love to say that Christmas to me IS about Christ, but is it really true? When I think of Christmas of course I think of that night centuries ago when God appeared in human flesh but right on the heels of that thought is the tree, the "what am I gonna get everyone", the food, the songs. All those are great things but when they surpass Christ and we begin to lose sight of a Kingly Babe come to redeem His people, than all we have is shallow celebration that leaves us empty at the end of day.

The Christmas season comes and goes really quickly for those of us who love it and as kids we look forward to it all year, but on December 26, it's over. That is, if it's just all about what the world says it is.

But if Christmas goes deeper in your heart, it doesn't have to end when you unwrap that last gift, put the decorations away or when the last candy cane has been eaten. No, the true meaning of Christmas really should be a year round celebration in our hearts.

This season-to the world- is centered around gifts but in a way, for the Christian it is too. For that first Christmas was the day we received a gift that goes beyond any gift ever even thought of. On that day God gave the world Himself. In one seemingly insignificant night, in an insignificant town, to insignificant people, God came. No one noticed but silently God slipped His gift into the world and laid it in a manager.

People today seem to take gifts for granted. They don't realize sometimes what gifts cost as long as they get them. But do we understand what God's gift to us cost Him? For in the shadow of that manager loomed a cross. Why? For you, for me, for the world.

May we, this Christmas and every day of the year, understand that God's gift was more than a sweet nativity, it was also a cross. It was ultimate redemption by the shedding of the blood of the Babe we celebrate on this day.

Looking at it like that, Christmas IS Christ.

I read this quote somewhere and I think it's fitting here- "We can not truly appreciate the gift, if we do not truly understand the cost."

Thank you, dear God, for your miraculous gift!

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. Luke 2:11