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Ask any child what they like most about Christmas, and the answer will probably be something about the presents they will receive. They make up wishlists, and their conversations leading up to Christmas are always about what they hope will be under the tree.
As a child, I was so focused on what I would get for Christmas that I sometimes didn’t wait until Christmas to open the packages! Sometimes I would unwrap them in the middle of the night, and then carefully wrap them back up once my curiosity was satisfied. I’m not sure how my parents never knew about these midnight exercises…
As we grow older, we begin to understand the wisdom in Acts 20:35: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (ESV). The joy we see on the faces of those we give to is beautiful and motivating. And so it is, coming up to Christmas every year, we begin making lists of people we want to purchase gifts for, along with some ideas of what we might consider giving.
As I looked over my list this year, I realized that most of the people on the list were people who would probably give me a gift as well. I generally don’t give to people because they have given a gift to me; but it is true that most of the people who are routinely on our gift lists are those who will probably also give us a gift back. And to my knowledge I have not left anyone out who I expect to receive gifts from…
Or have I?
As I think about the whole idea of gift giving, it occurs to me that there may be One person missing on our gift lists; and perhaps this One has given us more than we can ever imagine! The One I am thinking of gave His life to reconcile us with God, to make a way for us to have a relationship with Him, to open the doors of Heaven to us!
The One?
None other than Jesus Christ Himself.
When someone has given us so much, shouldn’t that person’s name be on our gift lists? I would say that the one way we can truly thank Jesus for the gift He has given us is to give Him a gift back!
Wait. It sounds like a great concept; but let’s be practical here. Just what can you give back to One who gave everything for you? To One who holds the universe in His hands? To the One Creator of Heaven and Earth? How can you give a gift to Someone who literally has – everything?
I would like to propose that the very first gift we can give Jesus, the one that He will appreciate the most, is the gift of our hearts.
Think about it: If you have sacrificed to purchase a wonderful gift for one of your children, how would it make you feel if that child refused the gift? This gives us a little idea of how God must feel when we refuse to accept His gift of salvation. After all, He gave it all for us: “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake he became poor. So that you through His poverty might become rich.” (2 Corinthians 8:9 NASB); and, “He Himself brought our sins in His body up on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness; by His wounds you were healed.” (1 Peter 2:24 NASB)
How can we accept this beautiful gift?
“for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” (Romans 10:10 NASB)
Thus the only thing we must do to accept this wonderful gift is to believe in Jesus and His incredible gift, and to confess that He is our Lord and Saviour! It’s as simple as that! And when we do, we are giving Him the best gift we could possibly give Him for Christmas: Our hearts!
If you’ve never done so, please consider giving Jesus this gift for Christmas! You can do so by clicking here!
But wait. Maybe you’ve already given your heart to Jesus! If you have, then what can you possibly give Him for Christmas this year?
This will be the subject of the next three parts of this mini-series entitled “Giving Gifts to Jesus” that will be appearing in the Nugget next Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. We encourage you to join us then!
In His love,
Lyn
Lynona Gordon Chaffart
Author, Moderator, Acting Director, Answers2Prayer Ministries
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