25TH DECEMBER 2021
TRUE CHRISTMAS GIFT
Christmas is a very important feast for all humanity. Christians or not, do celebrate it. Without Christmas, there can be no salvation for all of us mankind. Through Him, God was no longer intangible and unreachable by mankind, for in Jesus, the Lord has bridged the gap between us and Him. Therefore it is worth for us to celebrate it with great joy and festival.
By now we must have already arranged very well the celebration. By now, all your shopping is probably done and the stockings are hung. All the presents are nicely wrapped and ready. The house is decorated with beautiful light and brightness. But did you remember to get something for the most important person whose feast we celebrate today?
Christmas is the birthday of our Creator, the birthday of our Savior; it is the birthday of our King. Therefore he is the owner of our celebration. But do we always put Him at the center of our Christmas celebration? How do people celebrate Jesus’ birthday? What is the reality of the celebration?
All people prepare this great feast to make it beautiful and festive. They gather together to celebrate and share joy. They prepare great meal and wonderful cake; they get expensive gifts and toys for kids. The table is full of different types of food and drinks; people are so happy. They exchange gifts. People are happy, enjoying, singing, dancing. They hug and kiss each other for the celebration. But most of the time people do not invite Jesus, the owner of the celebration.
How do you feel if it is your feast, your birthday that is celebrated and you are not even invited; nobody greets nor hugs nor gives you any gift? People are celebrating and enjoying but you are left alone on the corner just looking at them. The same, most of the time, in Christmas celebration, Jesus is left alone, nobody remembers Him, but He wants to be at the center of the celebration. How would you think if you were in his place?
Therefore, we should put Jesus, whose birthday we celebrate today, at the center of our celebration. What should we give Him? What should we do for Him to make Him happy in his feast today? What kind of gifts can we give Him?
The wise men gave Him myrrh, a sign of a living sacrifice given to Him, frankincense, sign of his holiness and gold, sign of acceptance to his kingship. But for us what can we offer Him?
The first and greatest gift we can give Him is the Warm shelter of our heart. Jesus was born in a very poor and miserable place, in a manger, a very cold place. Now as a gift for Him, let us give Him our heart to be his place of birth; let Him be born in our heart today.
The second is giving thanks to God in all things.This is one of the most important gifts, we should give to our Savior is our gratitude. We should giving thanks to God for all that He has done for us, because everything we are, everything we have, and everything we will be and have in the future all comes from Him.
The third is to Have a Humble Heart.Humility makes us to surrender totally to God and acknowledging His greatness. I believe it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to give of ourselves unless we first have a humble heart. It takes humility to change ourselves, and unless we recognize our own nothingness it will be very hard to give a true gift of ourselves to our Savior.
The fourth gift we should give Him is our Repentance of a Sin or Weakness we have. What sin or weakness have you justified for too long? What of all your sins would be the greatest gift you could give to Jesus by giving it up?
The fifth gift is Serving Others.To serve God is to serve others and the gift of serving others is one of the greatest spiritual gifts we can give to our Savior, Jesus Christ.
The sixth gift is Praying with Sincerity. If you are new to prayer or have not prayed in a long time then perhaps the gift of prayer would be the perfect gift to give Christ in this Christmas celebration.
And the last gifts we can give Him is to Have Faith during Trials.Having faith in Jesus Christ during the serious trials of life can sometimes be very difficult for us to do. If you are struggling with a trial right now then making the choice to trust the Lord would be a wonderful spiritual gift to give the Savior.
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