Can you recall a Christmas when your entire life seemed to wait for that one never-to-be-forgotten present?
It was such a tough thing to just wait and wait until the time was right to unwrap the gift.
It was the gift box that you had probably shaken, rolled around and messed with time and time again so you could be sure what you had hoped for, asked for and believed for was actually wrapped up under the tree.
We've all had that moment.
I remember doing that more than once – even as an adult
However do we really have to wait for that perfect gift to be delivered on Christmas morning or do we have to wait for the time that our family designates that the gift will be opened?
The greatest Christmas gift —for everyone— doesn't need any colorful wrapping paper. It's a gift that doesn't cost a penny in material money.
All we need to receive this gift that keeps on giving is faith.
The Bible says in James 1:17 (NIV), “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”
It's a fact that the first Christmas gift was delivered in a manger, not a sleigh.
Everything we have we received one of three ways: we earned it, stole it, or somebody gave it to us.
The greatest and perfect gift is Jesus Christ himself. As a child longs for that one perfect gift, our deepest longings trace directly to what Christ can give us.
When we receive the most vivid Christmas gift of all—Christ in us—everything changes. Because He gives us forgiveness, purpose, and hope.
For ages songwriters and poets alike have attempted to describe God’s glorious Christmas Gift. Preachers the world around have preached unnumbered sermons trying to explain this unspeakable gift but many times they've come up short of a good explanation.
The giving of gifts is not something man invented. God started the giving spree when he gave a gift beyond words, the unspeakable gift of His Son.
The gift of Jesus Christ is unchanging.
Times change, styles change, attitudes and tastes change, history and math books change. Nearly everything we know of changes.
But Jesus Christ is God’s unchanging gift.
You can't change perfection.
There can be no moral change in Jesus. There is no change in the message he brings to us. Peace, love, forgiveness – that's the message of Jesus Christ.
Let us never forget that if we do not have Christmas in our heart, we will never find it under a tree.
Jesus is the gift you will not return.
These morning messages are now available by email. Simply write me with you email address at schneider.nick@gmail.com, and I'll be happy to forward them to your in-box.
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