Most Christians, including you and I, spend many hours thinking about who is to receive a Christmas gift and about how much those gifts will cost.
It’s just part of the season to which we’ve become accustomed over many years.
How many hours do we spend, though, thinking about a Christmas gift for God and about how much that gift will cost us?
The season of life that I’m experiencing now is different than in the past. Christmases past were characterized by plenty of gifts to open with kids and other relatives. And I loved it.
I realize now, however, that I should have been more diligent with including God as a gift recipient on Christmas mornining. Both tangibly and intangibly.
It’s very easy to become horizontally focused on Christmas morning, with all attention as to who is getting what.
The fact is that we wouldn’t have the occasion for gift-giving if it were not for God and His great gift — the birth of Jesus — that led to the eternal gift of salvation via the gift of His sacrifice on the cross.
I’m praying that you’ll seek the Holy Spirit’s guidance in how you will tangibly — and intangibly — give very meaningful gifts to God on Dec. 25th. There are thousands of ways for you to do so and I pray that your gift will show true sacrifice.
I write this today because of how my heart was stirred this morning while reading from the One-Year Bible:
“Should we sacrifice our firstborn children to pay for our sins?
“No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:7b-8)
People in Micah’s day were spiteful of Jehovah God yet still felt the oppressive guilt of their own sins, even to the point of sacrificing their children in pagan rituals in order to be relieved of that emotional baggage.
A firstborn child would die for their sins, all right. But it would be the holy Child of God named Jesus, not the children of sinners who murdered innocent children in order to appease their own consciences.
God sacrificed His firstborn and only Son to pay for my sins. The very least that I should do for Him this Christmas is to always do what is right, always to love mercy and always to walk humbly with my God.
I pray that you will do the same.
And let’s not forget to show mercy by putting a generous gift under the Christmas tree for somebody who needs a tangible sign of God’s mercy given into his or her life.
As always, I love you
Martin
