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Oh my, it has been a while since I have written. School started, which meant teaching and coaching started, and time was greatly limited. But, I should never go three months without writing a blog post. However, there is nothing I can do about what has happened, only what is happening now, and that is an incredible feeling that I need to write a Christmas post.
I’m not saying that my Christmas musing is a gift, but I do want to talk about gifts. Gifts are so important to December 25. We give gifts; we receive gifts; we remember great gifts we’ve gotten, and gifts that were of, let’s just say, the fruitcake variety. We remember times we’ve surprised someone with the perfect gift, and parents never forget those Christmas mornings as their children ran into the family room to see what jolly ol’ St. Nick had brought them. Gifts make the holiday, and that is because of the first Christmas.
That first Christmas God gave us his son born in a manager. It was the greatest gift of all, a savior that would go from manager to cross and allow us to spend eternity with Him. A true redeemer born surrounded by animals, with a birth announcement done up right by angels on high, but given to lowly shepherds. Yes, a gift we can never repay, the gift of salvation. Believe it or not, that’s not what this article is about.
As that savior was born, word of his birth made its way east. Three wise men came to see this child, and as they did, they brought with them gold, frankincense, and myrrh, three gifts that have become very famous. These wise men and their gifts are displayed in countless nativity scenes around the world. As I thought about these three gifts, I thought about three gifts that we get from Jesus, not just once a year, but all the time. Of course, His ultimate gift is salvation, but because He gave us that, we get to experience JOY, GRACE, and LOVE on a regular basis. These three gifts have come out of Christ’s willingness to be born a human being, suffer, die and rise again so all can have a relationship with Him and receive these gifts daily.
Luke 2 tells us through those birth announcement angels that Jesus will bring great JOY to all people. Joy is such a strange concept because too many of us relate it to happiness. Happiness is what I felt as I watched Spider-Man: No Way Home. I geeked out hard, and it went on for several days, but it is fleeting. JOY goes beyond that feeling of happiness. Feelings fade; feelings go up and down like a roller coaster, but JOY sustains. JOY goes all the way to the soul. It isn’t just laughing through all of those ups and downs; it’s realizing that the glory of the Lord surrounds you and within that there is JOY. The JOY that Christ gives us allows you and me to smile on the inside, even when we are crying on the outside.
The JOY of the Lord is unmeasurable, and I don’t think you can qualify any of these gifts that God has bestowed upon us. They are all the greatest gifts we have ever received. However, the one that causes me to weep the most is GRACE. The GRACE that the Lord has showered upon me is unbelievable. I know that I am not worthy of it, but yet He still gives it freely to me. As a human being who has been scorned and who has held a grudge, thinking about God’s GRACE is unfathomable. He not only pours it out onto us, through His grace we are able to have grace of our own. We are able to forgive. Not as God forgives, but at least in our human form we can forgive that father, brother, friend, fiancée, teacher, coworker and so on. Through the wonder of His GRACE we are forgiven, and we learn how to forgive.
Of course what would JOY and GRACE mean if it weren’t for LOVE? There is a reason that 1 Corithians 13 tells us that the greatest of these is LOVE. The reason that God bestowed GRACE upon us, and allows us to have JOY, is because He loves us so. 1 John 4:8 tells us that if we don’t love, we don’t know God, because God is LOVE. At his core, God is LOVE, and He loves each one of us individually. So lowly me, who has screwed up time and time again, is loved by the creator of the universe. The majestic being who spoke the cosmos into existence, loves me so much He is willing to forgive failure after failure and still stand there with arms open wide beckoning me to come to Him. It’s a LOVE I don’t deserve, but a LOVE He freely gives. Now that is a Christmas gift that can’t ever be topped.
So this Christmas I hope you get the gift you really want (and not a fruitcake), but remember, no matter what happens to be under the tree, your savior has given you these special gifts that He wants you to enjoy and experience every single day. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours.
As I have come to expect a magnificent piece of writing; excellent excellent excellent. This one is especially meaningful because you have cut to the very core of the gospel. God‘s love is a love that cannot be equaled and one that motivated Him to give us the greatest possible gift of all, His Son.
You have also struck to the very heart of the meaning of joy and grace. This is a blessed article obviously written through the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit. I love you son and I am so very proud of you.