God Speaking

“Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!”

(2 Corinthians 9: 15)

The Christmas season has begun, and the shops are crammed with gifts, overshadowing the real reason for why we are celebrating as shoppers are encouraged to forget restraint and spend, spend, spend. We lose sight of the fact that we are the recipients of the most incredible gift ever given to man and by the Heavenly Gift Giver, our Heavenly Father. His gift of his son, Jesus Christ would surpass any of the gifts already given to the nation of Israel. He was to be the long-awaited Messiah, the deliverer of the sacred gift of forgiveness the one who would allow us to have no barrier between us and the Father.

One of my friends was telling me that she will never forget one particular Christmas season. She was working in a small Australian town and one morning in December, she was walking to work and looked up to see a huge banner stretching across a cliff face just outside the town. On the banner were emblazoned these bold words;

Jesus Is The Reason For the Season

A wonderful reminder for us all to have emblazoned across our hearts this season

One of the ways to ensure Jesus remains the centre of our family celebrations is to constantly talk about him to our children. In the book of Deuteronomy Moses tells the Israelites to teach God’s words to their children, not just on Sunday, but whatever one is doing everyday so the Lord’s presence is mentioned in all ways of family life.

“Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, and when you lie down and when you get up.” (Deuteronomy 11: 19)

One of my daughters was given a Christian Advent Calendar, with a little pocket for each day of Advent. Not holding a piece of chocolate like those world calendars, but a tiny little booklet with the story of Jesus continued every day Wonderful to read to her little seven-year-old son and his little three-year-old sister. The little boy decided to make sure his little sister knew who the story was about and told her Jesus was the one they were saying “thank you” to  when they said grace at the table. Out of the mouth of babes comes the word of truth.

The fact that Jesus was a divine gift to us emphasises the we have done nothing to deserve such an indescribable gift.  It is because he loves us and through his grace and mercy, we can celebrate this Christmas with grateful hearts that we are the recipients of such an amazing gift

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3: 16 – 17)