The Greatest Gifts Ever Given

Christmas is next week, and I know that this year may be different, but Christmas is still here, and this season of remembering the birth of our Lord and Savior will still be celebrated.  Family and loved ones will still gather around a tree, a table, and this year, maybe even a computer.  Wherever we are, each year on Christmas our world slows down, and for one day we are all focused on the same beautiful thing – each other and why we celebrate. 

We wait with excitement for our family and loved ones to open their gifts we have wrapped and placed neatly under the tree.  With each year we realize more and more how great it is to give, and to see faces light up as someone you love opens a gift you have carefully chosen for them. The day is special, beautiful even, and one we anticipate throughout the entire year.  

I believe the same is true for God.  He gave the greatest gift he ever could have given when He gave His son, Jesus.  However, it wasn’t a one-time gift, but the gift that truly keeps on giving.  It gives to those who love Him, over and over again.  And, He has the joy of watching His children open that gift for the first time every day, every year.  How amazingly awesome!

Jesus came with even more gifts.  We have the gift of His Spirit, and we have the gift of His Word.  Today, I want to talk a little about His Word, and not in the context of giving, but rather from the context of how we receive this precious gift. 

How you receive the Word of the Lord changes everything.  As you pick up your Bible, you pick up the living Word of God.  As I write that, I have to pause, close my eyes, and consider what I have just written.  He is God, King of kings, Lord of lords.  He speaks and universes exist. He holds the entire world in His hand.  He is so big, so great, and so much more than our minds could ever understand, and yet He speaks to us.  His Word should draw from us an awe and wonder, with an excitement for the constant revelation of who He is.  Like the present we have always wanted, and finally it sits there under the tree, waiting to be opened.

How have you received this gift?  Do you recognize this gift as the greatest gift ever given and respond with the same excitement as that perfect gift you desire to see under the tree? 

This gift is the very Word of God, creator of all and the one  you will eventually stand before.  Can you imagine yourself in that place now, standing before God who created you, who loves you more than anyone ever could, and who has designed and purposed you with specific intentions, and who promises to give you the grace you need to accomplish it all?  With that perspective, does anything change?  Should you find yourself face to face with God, surrounded and enveloped by all the goodness that He is, would you receive differently? 

This gift is for you.  God’s Word is powerful, and it is effective in you when you receive it and believe it as if He were sitting in the room speaking to you, giving you His wisdom, and expressing His amazing love for you. 

Every time you open the Word, every time someone shares His Word with you, how you receive it matters. Take a moment before you even open the cover and allow yourself to remember what it is you are holding.  Thank Him and praise Him, as you hold the very Word that came to save you, redeem you, love you,  and propel you into your destiny with Him.  And then imagine, if you will, the joy He feels as you open the gift He so carefully prepared for you. 

Merry Christmas, and may God bless you always!
 
1 Thessalonians 2:13 – For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.
 
Quinn Pruett