Devotional - 12-09-98 - Who is Giving Whom What?

Encore from 12-19-97

The other night I was putting my ten-year-old daughter to bed and she asked a very profound question. She said "Dad, if Christmas is Jesus' Birthday, why do we give each other presents?" Hmm...Just what are we doing? Who is giving whom what?

Jesus is OUR gift from the Father and through faith in Jesus we are given the gift of salvation. Even the faith that we believe with is a gift from God. Luke 2:11 (NIV) Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.

Ephesians 2:8 (NIV) For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God

Of course, now you can say "okay David, what's the point?" Well, what does Jesus receive on his birthday. (Besides the gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh given at His birth.) What can we give Jesus? Talk about not knowing what to give to someone who has everything! Jesus has it all, except our hearts. Have you fully surrendered yourself to Him?

John 17:24 (NIV) Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.

Believers in Jesus Christ are gifts to Jesus from the Father. We are Christ's gift. Makes me want to pour out love to Christ when I really think about this. I am a gift to Jesus. Salvation and eteneral life with Him is His gift to me.

John 14:3 (NIV) And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

Colossians 3:4 (NIV) When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Our Hope lies in the above verses. Our Hope and our Faith hinge upon being with Jesus forever. Jesus is preparing a place for us in Heaven, but only if you believe in Him and accept Him as your Lord and Savoir.

My prayer for my fellow believers this Christmas is that we will take seriously our role as gifts to Jesus from the Father, and that we will take seriously the awesome gift of eternal life with Jesus. Jesus takes very good care of His gifts. This weekend, Christmas Eve and Christmas day, churches will be filled with non-believers, I pray that they will see Christ in you and want to investigate Christianity further. For those of you that are not quite sure about all this "accepting Jesus" stuff, and Jesus being a gift and we being a gift to him, my prayers are for you to keep hanging around the church, keep seeking Jesus, keep looking at and investigating Christ.

So who is giving whom what? God gave us Jesus, which through our faith and belief gives us eternal life, which in turn gives us to Jesus. Sounds like Christmas to me! Exchanging gifts... but these gifts never die, rot, fade, go out of style or burn up, they are forever!

Dear Lord, thank you for our gift of eternal life. Thank you for the babe in the manger, Jesus. Thank you for giving us the faith to believe and accept Jesus as our Savior. And Father, forgive us for falling short of Your mark, lead us to repentance and being made right with You. Help us to be the perfect gift toJesus, by being all that You made us to be. In His name, Amen.

David

david@cfdevotionals.org
http://www.cfdevotionals.org/