for a 10 christmas reflections on God’s Gift to Us—Jesus
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10 christmas reflections on God’s Gift to Us—Jesus
Cover Design
Hailey C. Smith
Cover Image
IVONINA via Shutterstock.com
Interior Design
Michael J. Williams
Editorial Team
Paul Brinkerhoff, Brianna De Man, Tom Felten, Tim Gustafson, Regie Keller, Monica La Rose, and Peggy Willison
Acknowledgments
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
It’s a Tamil word describing a variety of Indian sweets and homemade delectables made specifically around Christmas time. As a child, in the weeks leading up to Christmas I helped my grandmother prepare these treats. She would make a list of ingredients, then shop for the best produce at the local market, after which she would wash and sun-dry large barrels to store the food. Finally, she selected several of her children and grandchildren to assist her.
Christmas wasn’t widely celebrated in our country, but when Christmas day arrived, grandchildren were tasked with distributing platefuls of snacks as a gift to our neighbors and friends. Ensuring that the joy from our home overflowed into the homes of those around us, irrespective of their faith and convictions, was the central idea behind my grandma’s efforts. This overflowing joy seems to have been the way heaven communicated with earth that very first Christmas day too. A heavenly chorus erupted announcing “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased” (LUKE 2:14).
Heaven’s joy could not be contained: “The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born” (V. 11).
Often during this season we get lost in the festivities— shopping, decorating, church events, visiting family, wrapping presents, and so much more. While we’re careful to spread the joy of the season to those whom we hold dear, we may forget that there are many who have yet to experience the gift of a relationship with Jesus. Christ is heaven’s perfect gift to mankind. The palagarams we gave our neighbors brought them joy, but Jesus came to bring us life and life in abundance (JOHN 10:10). James 1:17 says, “Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father.” Jesus, God’s beloved Son, left His glory above so that we might experience life, hope, and joy. This deserves to be shared.
Sharing this hope and joy is what we did every Christmas day after church. Dressed in our best and carrying Grandma’s palagarams, we would knock on our neighbors’ doors and joyfully chime “Merry Christmas.” When our neighbors greeted us in return, we would invite them to church for the evening service where Christmas plays, songs, and dances were planned. All of the effort toward making mountains of palagarams led to this one culminating event; the invitation to come and experience Christ for themselves.
A similar invitation was extended at Christ’s birth to an ordinary group of shepherds out in the fields of Bethlehem. Marginalized and lowly, they were the unlikely recipients of God’s extraordinary announcement. I’ve often wondered why God would choose this obscure people group. Was it because they were the only ones awake at that hour of the night? Scripture doesn't tell us why. But perhaps what
qualified them was their willingness to leave everything they owned in the middle of the night and heed the angelic proclamation. They didn’t wait for the next day, or for dawn to break, but they “hurried” to encounter the Savior for themselves.
We too like those shepherds have been the unlikely recipients of God’s invitation to experience and believe in Jesus. Maybe we’re not wise or notable in any way (1 CORINTHIANS 1:26-27), but we're still special because we’ve been called to unwrap God’s greatest gift. Jesus didn’t come wrapped in golden garments or fine linen. He came in the form of a servant and took upon Himself the nature of human beings. He became one of us so that He could unveil to us the most precious gift of all—restoration to our heavenly Father, and eternal life with Him. Jesus explains this in His conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well. He said, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water” (JOHN 4:10). This gift of eternal life that Jesus offers is unattainable by our own efforts but was made available at the price of His death and resurrection.
Today, as recipients of this great gift of God, we can keep it to ourselves or, like the shepherds and my grandmother, use every opportunity, including palagarams, to spread the joyful news of Jesus. Our simple acts of love, our generosity, and our kindness can go a long way toward showcasing Christ to others. When we let our light shine, many will experience God’s greatest gift and glorify Him as the shepherds did centuries ago. This Christmas what you do with God’s gift matters.
Rebekah Vijayan, Our Daily Bread
o 1 PETER 4:10
God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts.
a gift multiplied
Right after handing Uncle Ming the $100, I started to regret it. The elderly man who hung around our neighborhood looked poor, so I thought I’d give him a little something. When I noticed he had several bills in his wallet, I thought, Hey, he’s not so poor after all! Did I just waste my money?
As I was beginning to feel regret, he remarked: “Thank you for this! Now I can help our estate cleaner support his family. He earns so little!”
His words put me to shame. While I was fretting over the prudency of helping him, Uncle Ming—who didn’t have that much himself—was ready to help others with similar or greater needs. As the apostle Peter reminds us: “God has given each of [us] a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts.” Ming was showing what it truly meant to take our gifts and “use them well to serve one another” (1 PETER 4:10).
Then it struck me that Uncle Ming’s generosity and compassion was also multiplying my gift to him. Despite my overly pragmatic approach towards giving, God in His grace was enabling me to help others through the elderly man. Through Uncle Ming, I could help others I didn’t even know. Our loving God provides for those in need, sometimes in amazing, mysterious ways. May we be His obedient channel of giving out of love (V. 8) and trust Him to multiply our gifts.
Is there someone you can help, even in a small way, today or this week? What can you do?
LESLIE KOH
Heavenly Father, please help me to be generous and faithful in my giving, for You have given me so much. I pray that You will multiply whatever I give out of my heart.
7 The end of the world is coming soon. Therefore, be earnest and disciplined in your prayers. 8 Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Cheerfully share your home with those who need a meal or a place to stay.
10 God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. 11 Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen.
o JOHN 14:28
I am going away, but I will come back to you again.
worth the wait
In Brazil, families meet on Christmas Eve and wait until midnight to join in the heartily prepared supper. This isn’t difficult; Christmas includes a warm, bright evening, with large family gatherings filled with good conversation and joy. After the delicious meal, it’s time to open presents. Everyone wonders, especially the children: Is there a nice gift for me?
Christmas is the season of joyful anticipation. God’s people had awaited the birth of the Messiah for centuries, and His hand had carefully guided every detail: the virgin birth, in the specific town of Bethlehem, and the humility of His incarnation. “All this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet” (MATTHEW 1:22). There may not always be a feast for Christmas and presents may disappoint or not arrive at all. Waiting on God, however, is a wait that won’t disappoint. Christ offers forgiveness of sins and “the right to become children of God” (JOHN 1:12). Reconciliation with the Father is a matchless gift, which allows us to know His perfect peace. “The peace I give is a gift the world cannot give,” said Jesus (14:27). Is waiting hard for you? God has proven himself faithful by sending Jesus, so we rest assured in His words: “I will come back to you again” (V. 28). There’s no hope better than that! The gift that truly satisfies our soul is to be part of His family and live with Him for eternity.
MARILIA LARA
How have you been frustrated by misplaced hope? How might remembering God’s firm promises change your view on life?
Dear Jesus, may I learn to wait for You with love, wisdom, and hopeful joy.
27 I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid. 28 Remember what I told you: I am going away, but I will come back to you again. If you really loved me, you would be happy that I am going to the Father, who is greater than I am. 29 I have told you these things before they happen so that when they do happen, you will believe.
o GENESIS 1:1
In the beginning God . . .
in the beginning
“Bethlehem is not the end of our journey but only the beginning.” So wrote Frederick Buechner in his 1966 work The Magnificent Defeat. And while his words apply to any beginning, Buechner penned them in the context of the Christmas season where the temptation is to linger in the seasonal warmth of peace and joy. But what did he mean, “Bethlehem is not the end of our journey”? Buechner sheds light on that. “Home . . . for us is not the manger where the light is gentle and God is a child. . . . We must also depart into our own country again, where peace is not found in escape from the battle but in the very heat of the battle.”
If we’re honest about the vast number of unknowns in store for each of us, the very first words of Scripture have the power to steady us. “In the beginning God . . .” (GENESIS 1:1). Even before anything had been formed, “the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters” (V. 2). That’s the timeless nature of God’s truth. He was before all things—everything. And He continues to go before us in all things. He’s there whether we acknowledge it or not, but why wouldn’t we? If we’re serious about following His ways and will, we’ll both remember and cling to that truth as we enter a new year of our life’s uncertain journey.
As you journey on, remember, God’s already there. He’s been there from the beginning.
What uncertainties are you sensing on the horizon?
How will you entrust them to your heavenly Father?
JOHN BLASE
Dear Father, thank You for the gift of Your abiding presence as I look to the days ahead.
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.
3 Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. Then he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day” and the darkness “night.”
And evening passed and morning came, marking the first day.
Conclusion the simple wonder of a gift
“What’s one gift that meant a lot to you?”
That was the question Carl asked during a youth group meeting. Sitting in a circle, we took turns to answer. Carl, our youth leader and facilitator, said he would go last.
At first, the answers started off simple: a cool watch, a surprise birthday party, and a collection of photos.
One by one, they began to get more reflective. A happy, supportive family. The encouragement of friends. By the time we circled back to Carl, the answers had become quite deep. The gift of love. Life itself.
“Wow,” stuttered Carl, looking a little sheepish. “You guys think so deeply! I was just going to tell you about this nice pen I got at Christmas when I was a kid.”
That incident got me thinking about how we perceive the gifts we receive, and how we respond to them. To a child, a long-coveted toy is the greatest thing on earth and is received with the greatest wonder. As we get older and our desires and emotions get more complex, we see gifts differently. We might reflect on their value and ask deeper questions. How much did this gift cost? What considerations went into it? Should I be more grateful? How should I respond?
As I think about Carl’s simple answer, I wonder: Do we sometimes “overthink” our gifts? Do we spend a lot of time pondering their significance? Or do we receive them with
the simple wonder that a child feels when he gets a little surprise, especially when he didn’t do anything to earn it?
Perhaps that’s what happens when we “receive the kingdom of God like a child” (MARK 10:14-15). While we might miss the complex spiritual and theological implications of this divine gift, we express a simple sense of amazement that I’m sure delights a doting Father. “Oh, wow! Thanks so much, Dad!”
From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible describes all kinds of blessings received by God’s people. They range from practical items for survival, like food and water, to desires of the heart, like children to carry on the family name, to things like land, legacy, wisdom, and forgiveness.
Then, of course, there was the greatest gift of all—a Christmas gift that came with global and eternal significance: God’s own Son, Jesus, who died and rose again that we might be forgiven, reconciled with God, and enjoy everlasting life.
The one thing that all these gifts had in common was that they were undeserved. They weren’t given in exchange for some work done, or good behavior or performance. They were given simply because God the Father loves us.
This stunning simplicity that lies at the heart of all of God’s gifts and blessings and is overshadowed by the deep, complex significance contained in them. A more complete understanding of the whys and hows and what they mean for us and the world is vital for our spiritual growth and maturity.
But we might wonder what it would be like to unwrap these gifts from God like a little child, tearing the wrapping paper off excitedly and holding them aloft with shining eyes and mouths agape, exclaiming, “Oh, wow! Thank You, God! This is fantastic!”
The Bible often expresses thankfulness and gratitude in the simplest of terms.
“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever.”
(PSALM 136:1, 107:1, 118:29)
If these lines were sung, I’m sure they came with an exclamation mark at the end as the psalmist exulted with pure, almost child-like joy. “Give thanks to the L ord, for he is good! His love endures forever!”
God enjoys giving us surprises and watching us smile in delight. After all, what is gratitude? It’s not just a mind that understands the significance and implication of an undeserved blessing, but also a soul full of joy and a heart overwhelmed by the simple wonder of it all.
On the first Christmas two thousand years ago, the first to visit the newborn king in the manger were humble shepherds. How fitting for the baby who would come to be known as the Good Shepherd.
Perhaps you’ve felt like a lost sheep wandering in search of purpose and wondering if there’s more to life? Would you like to know this Great Shepherd who understands you?
The good news is this Shepherd, Jesus, is seeking you as a loving shepherd seeks his lost sheep. He wants to forgive you of your sins and bring you into His fold where you’ll find eternal life.
This Christmas, will you turn to Jesus, our Great Shepherd? Then you too can rejoice anew in Christ, God’s ultimate gift, with simple wonder, and say, “Oh, wow! Thank You, Father! This is amazing!”
Leslie Koh, Our Daily Bread author
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The Gift of a Savior
God’s greatest gift to us was His Son, Jesus— our Savior, who died and rose again so that we may live eternally with Him. This unending gift is for everyone. With this truth, we get to be united with a diverse family of believers all over the world. This Christmas season, you’re invited to set aside 10 days to reflect on what this means for you and how you might share this good news with others.
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