The Gift

John 3:16 The Gift



I remember one Christmas I was probably 10 years old, I got up around 5:30 am and the rule was at that point we were allowed to go through our stocking. In my stocking was one of the first ever electronic race car games, with sound effects and flashing lights. Well let’s just say that after waking up my parents at 5:30 am to a racing car game the rules about stockings changed and so did the wake up time. I was so excited about Christmas

THE MAN AND THE BIRDSBy Paul HarveyNow the man to whom I'm going to introduce you was not a scrooge; he was a kind, decent, mostly good man. Generous to his family, upright in his dealings with other men. But he just didn't believe all that incarnation stuff which the churches proclaim at Christmas Time. It just didn't make sense and he was too honest to pretend otherwise. He just couldn't swallow the Jesus Story, about God coming to Earth as a man."I'm truly sorry to distress you," he told his wife, "but I'm not going with you to church this Christmas Eve." He said he'd feel like a hypocrite. That he'd much rather just stay at home, but that he would wait up for them. And so he stayed and they went to the midnight service.Shortly after the family drove away in the car, snow began to fall. He went to the window to watch the flurries getting heavier and heavier and then went back to his fireside chair and began to read his newspaper. Minutes later he was startled by a thudding sound. Then another, and then another. Sort of a thump or a thud. At first he thought someone must be throwing snowballs against his living room window.But when he went to the front door to investigate he found a flock of birds huddled miserably in the snow. They'd been caught in the storm and, in a desperate search for shelter, had tried to fly through his large landscape window. Well, he couldn't let the poor creatures lie there and freeze, so he remembered the barn where his children stabled their pony. That would provide a warm shelter, if he could direct the birds to it.Quickly he put on a coat, galoshes, tramped through the deepening snow to the barn. He opened the doors wide and turned on a light, but the birds did not come in. He figured food would entice them in. So he hurried back to the house, fetched bread crumbs, sprinkled them on the snow, making a trail to the yellow-lighted wide open doorway of the stable. But to his dismay, the birds ignored the bread crumbs, and continued to flap around helplessly in the snow.He tried catching them. He tried shooing them into the barn by walking around them waving his arms. Instead, the scattered in every direction, except into the warm, lighted barn. And then, he realized, that they were afraid of him. To them, he reasoned, I am a strange and terrifying creature. If only I could think of some way to let them know that they can trust me. That I am not trying to hurt them, but to help them. But how? Because any move he made tended to frighten them, confuse them. They just would not follow. They would not be led or shooed because they feared him."If only I could be a bird," he thought to himself, "and mingle with them and speak their language. Then I could tell them not to be afraid. Then I could show them the way to the safe warm barn. But I would have to be one of them so they could see, and hear and understand."At that moment the church bells began to ring. The sound reached his ears above the sounds of the wind. And he stood there listening to the bells pealing the glad tidings of Christmas. And he sank to his knees in the snow.

This man had a God encounter. In the snowstorm he experienced the truth about Jesus Christ. God came as man to show us the way. More importantly to be the way back to God. The living truth who brings us eternal life.
Why did God do this?
The answer is in my favorite Christmas verse:
John 3:16 - "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

“What does God care about most? The redemption of his people. He wants all his lost children found. That’s the whole reason Jesus came to earth.” - Rick Warren

The Most Beautiful Christmas Tree Ever
byWilliam Theron Yates
The Christmas tree stood in a corner of the room, decorated from tip to floor with lights and tinsel and garlands and ornaments and a star shining down from the top. It was a beautiful tree. The family had spent many hours decorating it. Boxes of things from Christmas past had been pulled out of hidden places in overstuffed closets and the dusty attic. Cries of "Oh, remember this one?" and "Didn't Grandma make this decoration?" and "Where's my little toy soldier?" and the rustle of wrapping paper filled the air. Music of the season flowed from the stereo and the intoxicating scent of cinnamon and gingerbread filled the air as Mother baked Christmas cookies in the kitchen.
Gradually the tree had been transformed from a somewhat scraggly and slightly lopsided piece of greenery into a joyous symbol of Christmas. "Isn't this the most beautiful Christmas tree we ever had, Daddy?", a young voice asked. "No", cried another, "it's the most beautiful Christmas tree ever!"
As all pairs of eyes in the room turned to me, awaiting confirmation of this most excellent judgment, my mind suddenly filled with trees -- a veritable forest of evergreens and elms, oaks and maples, sycamores and cypresses -- and one certain tree. Before I quite knew what I was saying, I replied, "No. This is not the most beautiful Christmas tree ever." Cries of "What?" and "Yes, it is!" assaulted my ears. "Hush!" I said, "Shall I tell you of the most beautiful Christmas tree ever?"
"Oh, yes, Daddy, please tell us!" they chorused.
"Well, a long time ago, long before the very first Christmas, God said, 'One day, I will send My Son to the world, and He will show all people how to live and how to worship Me. He will give them a never-ending life with Me in Heaven where they will be happy forever. All they have to do is to be sorry for doing things their own way instead of My better way and to believe that He is my Son.' "
"Long years passed and it was time for God's Son, Jesus, to be born. This is what we celebrate as Christmas."
"Yeah, there were shepherds and angels and wise men," said one. "And Joseph and Mary, His mother," replied another.
"Yes. You all know the story of Christmas. But do you know the story of the first Christmas tree?"
"No, tell us! Tell us!"
"There was no tree at the first Christmas. In fact, the first Christmas tree didn't even come at Christmas!"
"What do you mean?"
"How could it be a Christmas tree if it wasn't at Christmas?"
"Well, Jesus grew up and told everyone about God, His Father, and that they could live forever with Him in Heaven. And many people believed. But some people did not want to change the way they were living. And they were very powerful people. And they got together and arrested Jesus and sentenced Him to die."
"Yeah, they nailed Him on a cross", said a sad, small voice.
"Yes. That cross was the First Christmas Tree! We hang ornaments and decorations on our tree to make it look beautiful, don't we?"
Heads nodded.
"Well, when they hung Jesus on the cross, they hung the most beautiful ornament ever! He had a wreath -- of thorns -- and garlands -- of the blood He shed for us so we could go to Heaven. Those were the most priceless decorations ever. Because Jesus, God's greatest gift to us, died for us nailed to that tree, it really is The Most Beautiful Christmas Tree Ever!"
And all agreed.
© Copyright 1993 by William Theron Yates
God’s love for us is the true meaning of Christmas. At a time of year when people seem a little more generous and kinder, remember why? God came down to earth to give us the greatest love story ever told. John 15:13 "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.


Christmas is not the end of the story but the beginning.

The kids were so excited and beaming about their presents and I know for me as a parent when I see the wide-eyed astonishment of my kids when they open the present I am thrilled. But you know what means more to me? Is when I see my kids use and get enjoyment out of their gifts for years to come.
It is great to celebrate the gift of Jesus Christ at Christmas, but the gift of salvation and relationship with God is a 24/7 365 day gift. It is given to not only for Heaven but today. The struggle for us is live like someone who is love with Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the Reason for the Season drives me nuts, because we add too many words. JESUS is the REASON. (PERIOD)
He is the reason for my faith and the foundation of my life. Anything that I build into my life that isn’t based on the foundation of Jesus Christ becomes junk and falls apart.

How do you live out the gift of Christmas year around?