Jesus, the gift at Christmas

Jesus, the gift at Christmas. Last year my blog post at Christmas was “What is so amazing about Christmas?’ The article is about God, our Heavenly Father and His love for us. This year I want to dwell on Jesus, the gift. One of my love languages is receiving gifts and I also love to give gifts. The world over acceptable response to being presented with a gift, is one should accept the gift. The gift should say more about the giver than the recipient. Or rather the gift is an indication of the value the giver has attached to the recipient.

Emmanuel, God with us

God sent us His Son as a gift, what does that tell us about how much value He attaches to us? The name Emmanuel which means God with us sets the tone for why Jesus came. Simply put God missed humanity, He missed you and me. The bible says we have all gone astray and the unasked question is what had we gone astray from. We had been separated from God at the fall of Adam and have since severed ties with God through sin and the consequences of sin. God had made several attempts to get us back, to have relationship with us and now He sent His son.

Gift of peace

At the birth of Jesus, a company of angels appeared to shepherds, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests. God formally announces extending grace to us. Then His Son, Jesus said, Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. So now the gift Jesus gives us is the gift of peace.

Gift of joy

One of my favourite Christmas carols is Joy to the word, the next line says it all, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King. Again this joy is universal not just to believers. And the Lord our King is a gift. We have joy because Jesus our Messiah came. He did for us what we couldn’t do for ourselves. He saved us from sin and its penalty of death, in Him we have eternal life. And in Him we have abundant life!

So at a glance it appears that because Jesus is the gift at Christmas, we have received some awesome gifts, God’s presence, His peace and joy everlasting! My wish for you this Christmas 2023 is that you will know that He is with you, you will have a peace that surpasses all understanding and you will have joy that will last into the year 2024! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!