Don’t we all love Christmas gifts?

God gave us His most precious gift, the gift of His

Son, Jesus Christ, to give us life, His life. Yet, how many of us leave this precious
gift unopened? We look for the shiny wrappers and ignore the babe wrapped in
swaddling clothes who was born to be the king of our hearts. He left His throne in
heaven to be enthroned in our hearts. Yet just as there was no room at the inn, will
we refuse Him room in our hearts too?
Salvation is God’s free gift to us, but it is a priceless gift because God gave His very
best, His only begotten Son, for each one of us. For God so loved the world that He
gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not die but have
eternal life. Man was created to be the crown of God’s creation, created in the
image of God. Everything that God created was for man to enjoy, and God gave
man dominion over everything. Yet man chose to disobey God and by his
disobedience, man exposed his desire to be independent from God by rebelling
against Him. Thus sin entered the world and brought death.
God stepped in to restore His broken creation. God made a sacrifice, the very 1st
animal sacrifice, to clothe man in animal skins, for he recognised that he was
naked. This would point to the sacrifice of Jesus who would clothe us with His
righteousness. God promised a Saviour, an offspring of a woman, who would crush
the head of Satan to liberate His people from the bondage to sin and satan. This
promise was fulfilled in Christ, born of a virgin, Immanuel, God with us.
John describes the eternal Word of God, becoming flesh and making His dwelling
amongst us. He said, ‘We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and only, who
came from the Father, full of grace and truth.’ The Omnipotent God of the universe
became a helpless babe, the Infinite became a finite being, the Immortal became
mortal.
Yet, from His birth, the shadow of the cross fell on the crib. There would be no crib
without the cross, and there would be no cross without the crib. Here was a babe,
born to be a King and yet born to die to give His people new birth.
Through this little babe, God would reconcile mankind to Himself. Through Jesus’
obedience even to death, God would count us rigteous. He would carry all our sins
on the cross for the full payment for our sins. He paid the ransom to set us free. He
is the promised Saviour to all who believe and receive Him.
To all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to
become children of God, children born not of natural descent, nor of human
decision, but born of God. And that’s why Christmas holds so much hope. We’ve
become a new creation. The Son of God became son of man, to make the sons
and daughters of man to be sons and daughters of God. You and me can shed our
old sinful nature and have an absolutely new identity, a new purpose and a new life.

Jesus is God’s love gift to us. Would you open your heart to this love gift from
heaven’s throne and receive Him to reign and rule in your heart. He will bring
heaven’s joy and peace into your heart establishing His kingdom in your heart. So
arise and shine for your light has come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.
He is Christ in us, the hope of our glory.
Wishing you all a blessed meaningful Christmas.