Each year I have this dream that I am going to be done by Dec. 1. Has it ever happened? Nope. Probably never will. But I am doing better this year than most years prior.
Gift lists. We probably ALL have them. Things the kids or grandkids want. Things our spouse wants. People we need to buy for that haven't given us a list. Teacher gifts. Workplace gifts. Gifts for the mailman, the babysitter, the hairdresser. The list of lists could be endless!
We peruse the Black Friday and Cyber ads. We receive numerous emails offering the best "deal" of the day. We clip coupons and save promo codes. We shop in person and online. We hit the malls, the gift shops, the big box stores with lists in hand. And, sometimes we just run up on a gift we didn't even know existed or we get an extraordinary deal. Now THOSE make my day!!
I love it when I find something that is just perfect for that special someone. Something you know they will LOVE but had not asked for and did not expect.
I've gotten a few gifts like that, haven't you?
Twice my daughter and daughter-in-love have gone together and made photos of the grands and made a collage, framed it and given it to me. Be still my heart!!
Another year my daughter took all my blogs and had them printed and bound like a book. I cried.
One year my husband gave me a brand new computer. Talk about blown away!! Mine was an antique. I could not believe my eyes. Totally did not see that coming at all!!
The CHRISTmas after my mother passed away (on CHRISTmas day), my daughter and son-in-love gave me a beautiful silver bracelet that had been engraved with my mother's own handwriting as she would have signed a card "Love ya, Mother". Again, I wept.
And one of the best gifts ever was the year that my husband gave me a card on CHRISTmas eve. We do not do gifts on CHRISTmas eve, we do them on CHRISTmas day. So I was puzzled when he insisted that I open this card. But when I did, I got the surprise of my life. In it he told me that he was taking me on a trip to Hawaii for our 25th anniversary in just a few months. (He gave it to me at CHRISTmas so I would have the opportunity to have input.) It was a dream come true and a trip I will never forget!!!
Yes, we all love gifts! And whether the gift is big or small; cheap or costly; simple or extravagant, expected or unexpected....we ALL love getting gifts.
But the very best gift I have ever received is JESUS!!!
God gave us JESUS so that we might have life, eternal life. John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He GAVE His only Son, that whosoever [that's you and me] believes in Him would not perish but have eternal life." He sent Him to bridge the gap between holy God and sinful man. He came because I owed a debt I could not pay...my sin debt...and He paid that debt for me with His own life's blood. Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death, but the GIFT of God is eternal life in CHRIST JESUS our Lord."
He did that for me and He did that for YOU.
"Please note: Salvation is God-given, God-driven, God-empowered and God-originated. The gift is not from man to God. It is from God to man. Grace is created by God and given to man. On the basis of this point alone, Christianity is set apart form any other religion in the world. Every other approach to God is a bartering system, if I do this, God will do that. I'm either saved by works (what I do), emotions (what I experience) or knowledge (what I know). By contrast, Christianity has no whiff of negotiation at all. Man is not the negotiator; indeed man has no grounds from which to negotiate." ---Max Lucado
We cannot buy this gift. We cannot earn this gift. It is FREE!! All we have to do is receive it. He offers it to each of us, but we must CHOOSE to receive it.
Isn't that good news? The BEST GIFT ever is FREE. We may freely receive it, but make no mistake it is a costly gift. It cost God everything. It cost Him His Son, JESUS who gave His very life for us to have this precious gift.
I hope this CHRISTmas you already have received this gift. If not, you can have it today for the asking. "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" BEHOLD JESUS....the very best gift ever!!
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