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What
did you receive for Christmas last year? Quick, can you remember?Name
the gifts you received, and then try remembering the ones you gave.
If
you can’t remember, you are not alone. One holiday season I asked 35
shoppers what they had received for Christmas the previous year. Half
could not remember or had a hard time recalling. Many of those who did
remember were children or teens. Most adults had simply forgotten.
And
yet, a lot of time and effort went into selecting and purchasing those
forgotten gifts. It wasn’t that the gifts were unappreciated; it’s
simply that they didn’t make that much difference in the lives of those
who received them.
One
study found that the average person spends 17 minutes planning purchases
and six hours shopping for them, with an average of three trips to the
same store. With all that time and effort, you would think that we
could come up with gifts people would remember.
While we often can’t recall the gifts we give and receive most all of us
know what gift God gave on that first Christmas night – the gift of the
Christ Child.
However, it wasn’t that way in the beginning. The world paid no
attention on the night Christ was born. There was no room in the inn,
so his mother, Mary, was forced to give birth in a stable or cave where
the animals were fed. Only a few shepherds came to pay him homage – and
shepherds were considered outcasts in that day.
The
baby in the manger had no claim to power, no likelihood of an education,
no striking religious pedigree.
And
yet, two thousand years later, the six billion people of our world count
their years and conduct their annual cycle of events according to a
calendar based upon the life of that unnoticed baby. Two billion
persons worship him as their Lord and Savior. He has influenced art,
history, government and social events more than any other single
personality in all of history..
One
man I heard about has found the solution to Christmas shopping for his
wife. He decides what he wants to spend, goes to a store, and buys
something that he knows she does not want. Then after Christmas she
returns the item and selects what she really wanted.
That
may work for Christmas shopping, but it is not how God works. With God
there can be no exchanges – we either accept his Gift or we lose it.
If
we come humbly to the manger, bowing before Jesus and dedicating our
lives to him, Christmas changes from an event that happened two thousand
years ago to a current event. We discover that the true celebration of
Christmas is not Santa Claus, vacations, and parties, but the personal
acceptance of God’s Incredible Gift – our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
The
apostle John wrote, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and
only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal
life.” (John 3:16) The apostle Paul added, “Thanks be to God for his
indescribable gift!” (2nd Corinthians 9:15)
Paul Jetter, Upper Valley Community Church |
