Skip to main content

The Gift of Jesus



As I sit here reflecting on yet another Christmas that has come and gone.  The carols were sung, the parties are over, and the gifts have been opened.  Tomorrow many will hit the stores exchanging some of the gifts because there were not what they were expecting, hoping for, or wanting.  One year my darling hubby bought me slippers. No I didn’t like them, they were not what I wanted.   I wore them once in desperation.  Now, I LOVE those slippers; they are my favorite slippers. They were exactly what I wanted. I’m sure most of you have had the same experience a time or two.

When God took on flesh and became a baby, many people living at that time refused to accept the gift that was lavished on them.  In fact, many are still waiting for the promised messiah.  He didn’t come as they were expecting, in royal robes, with worldly power and influence so they cast the gift aside and kept looking for the gift that had been promised.  They could not and would never accept this gift.  It was not wrapped the way they expected so it was rejected. The people living in darkness had seen a great light.  They saw the light and chose to remain in darkness.

Today we often do the same thing that I did with the gift from my husband. We cast the gift of God aside because it was not really what I was hoping for at the time.  Everyone wants a “magic lamp” that will give them whatever they want; but they don’t always want a sovereign God to tell them what to do.  So they, like the people two thousand years ago, reject the gift they need.  It’s why people have so many problems at Christmas.  Celebrating Christmas without Celebrating Jesus will always disappoint us because we end up depending on the trappings of Christmas to fill a void that only God can fill.


Today, if you haven’t already, opened the Gift of Jesus.  It is the only thing that can make sense of all the commotion that comes with the celebration of Christmas.  Don’t be deceived into thinking you don’t need the gift he offers.  We all need his gift. It’s the same gift he offered to the people in his day, that he offers to you and me.  The gift of a clean heart and life forever; what more could we hope for? Don’t just see a great light, enter into the light.  Then, you’ll be celebrating Jesus all year long not just one day of the year.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Thank You God For Turning Our Ashes into Beauty

There are tragedy and sadness in everyone's life, No one is exempt. Yet, in the midst of the hurt and pain, God is there. He takes the things that hurt us and make us sad and turns them into things are beautiful. The death of my mother  was a tragedy to my dad. However, because of that tragedy, my dad began to see his need for God. In his brokenness, he found a God that could make him whole.  God turned his ashes into beauty. My dad, in turn, taught me to love God.   I am blessed to know God as my savior because of my dad. God also blessed me with a lovely step-mom Life is harsh at times, and many things are sad,  Yet, if we let him, he will take our ashes and make them into a work of art.   He delights in making the ash heaps of our life beautiful.   When we are broken, God is near, and where there is sorrow, he will turn it into dancing.   Thank you, God, F...

Doctors and Taxes

Tonight, I’m doing something I absolutely hate.  My husband and I are working on a budget.  I imagine that most of you feel the same way. It’ kind of like taxes and doctors, we dislike them and breathe a sigh of relief when they are done. Truth be told; we really don’t enjoy working on a budget at all.  Yet it is one of the necessary components in knowing exactly how much you have and what you can spend. If indeed we are responsible to God for how we handle the resources that God has given us, then we need a clear picture. One piece of the puzzle that can bring the whole puzzle into focus is a budget.  It allows you to see and compare what you spend with what you have.  Sometimes as I’ve done a budget and looked at what I saw, I could see that the problem was little things that add up.  I realized that the problem was that I forgot the advice I had been given long ago, little things add up.  As we do a budget, we often see little things th...

Rest For Your Soul

Tonight was such a beautiful sunny night that I decided to go for a walk and enjoy the warm summer sun before another wave of rain hits.  As I cranked up my music and headed out.  I could not help but praise God for the area in which I live.   I, quite literally, live 5 minutes from a small town.   If I want to walk, I can walk down deserted country roads without driving at all.  Yes, I am incredibly blessed.  I saw baby bunnies eating grass by the edge of the road and talked with the most friendly Jersey cows.  They always walk over to the edge of the fence as I walk by nodding their heads in greeting.   There was a deer, in a hurry to catch up with his “deer” friends I suppose.  There were daisies and buttercups, apple trees by the edge of the road and a creek that floods at least once during the spring.  I also occasionally see a very friendly donkey and a few horses who always come to the edge of the fence hoping I have sugar for...