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by Max Lucado
Oh, the things we do to give gifts to those we love.
But we don’t mind, do we? We would do it all again. Fact is, we do it all again.
Every Christmas, every birthday, every so often we find ourselves in foreign
territory. Grownups are in toy stores. Dads are in teen stores. Wives are in the
hunting department, and husbands are in the purse department.
And we’d do it all again. Having pressed the grapes of service, we drink life’s
sweetest wine—the wine of giving. We are at our best when we are giving. In
fact, we are most like God when we are giving.
Have you ever wondered why God gives so much? We could exist on far less. He
could have left the world flat and gray; we wouldn’t have known the difference.
But he didn’t.
He splashed orange in the sunrise
Did he have to make the squirrel’s tail furry?
Why give a flower fragrance? Why give food its taste?
If we give gifts to show our love, how much more would he? If we—speckled with
foibles and greed—love to give gifts, how much more does God, pure and perfect
God, enjoy giving gifts to us? Jesus asked, “If you hardhearted, sinful men know
how to give good gifts to your children, won’t your Father in heaven even more
certainly give good gifts to those who ask him for them?” (Matt. 7:11 TLB).
One Incredible Savior God’s gifts shed light on God’s heart, God’s good and
generous heart. Jesus’ brother James tells us: “Every desirable and beneficial
gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the
Father of Light” (James 1:17 MSG). Every gift reveals God’s love … but no gift
reveals his love more than the gifts of the cross. They came, not wrapped in
paper, but in passion. Not placed around a tree, but a cross. And not covered
with ribbons, but sprinkled with blood.
Source: One Incredible Savior; Copyright (Thomas Nelson, 2011) Max Lucado
and cast the sky in blue.
And if you love to see geese as they gather,
chances are you’ll see that too.
Was he obliged to make the birds sing?
And the funny way that chickens scurry
or the majesty of thunder when it rings?
Could it be he loves to see that look upon your face?
See Also:
The Truth of the Nativity
We can't know Jesus if we don't understand He is real. The story of His birth is no allegory. We dare not romanticize it or settle for a fanciful legend that renders the whole story meaningless. Mary and Joseph were real people. Their dilemma on finding no room at the inn surely was as frightening for them as it would be for you or me.What I Want for Christmas
I have always believed in the promise of Christmas. There has always been something special to me about this time of the year, going back to my earliest days of childhood.The Greatest Gift of All
The real message of Christmas is not the gifts we give each other. Rather, it is a reminder of the gift that God has given to each of us. It is the only gift that truly keeps on giving, so I want to point out four things about it.An Undeserved Gift
We generally don’t buy gifts for our enemies, do we? We don’t give a gift to the person who has slandered us in the past year. We don’t give a gift to the irate neighbor who never has a kind word to say. We don’t give a gift to someone who has tried to run us out of business.
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