Christmas Message (Bot9 #223)

Bottom fo the Ninth - Christmas Message
by Keith Wahl
 
A couple of days ago I came home from buying light bulbs at Target. I love little breaks in the calendar like this because it allows me to get a few extra things done around the house that have been lingering on the to-do list. As I walked in the house, my son peered over the railing separating the upstairs and downstairs levels in our house. He said with a big smile, "Daddy, DO NOT come upstairs." It was clear that the rest of the family was wrapping Christmas presents upstairs.

In that moment, in my son's face, I saw the heart and joy of God. His desire to give outweighed his desire to receive. Having been on that side of giving a cool gift to my wife, or my kids, or a friend, I knew what his heart was experiencing in that moment.

I also started to think about the gift of Jesus that the Father had in store for the whole world. Seeing my son so excited to give a gift in that moment gave me a different picture of God. Not a stuffy, distant, white-robe-wearing, white-haired old man, but a joyful, loving, playful man psyched to give us the greatest gift we could ever receive - Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us.

As you open your presents this morning and watch your family unwrap the gifts you chose for them, give a thought to how excited the Father is for us to accept His free gift of salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ. What a great, wonderful, and perfect gift for us all!
 
Acts 20:35, "...and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”